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HISTORY  OF  GREENFIELD. 


Forsan  et  hacc  olim  meminissa  juvabit. 

Perhaps  the  time  may  come,  when  the  recollection, 
evcQ  of  these  things,,  will  be  pleasing. 

VlKQIL.  -A 


"  A   THING   OP   SHREDS   AND   PATCHES." 


GREENFIELD: 

KNEELAND  &  EASTMAN. 

1838. 


JUBRAW 

u^iiveiff OF 

MASSACHUSETTS 
CRST,  Mass. 


*^ilntered  according  to  act  of  Congress,  in  the  office  of  the 

Clerk  of  the  District  Court  of  Massachusetts, 

in  18S8,  by  D.  Willard. 


PREFACE. 

Reader,  please  to  read  the  preface. 

This  work  was  prepared  for  publication 
more  than  a  year  since,  (in  July  1837,)  and 
its  delay  has  been  owing  to  circumstances  be- 
yond my  power  to  control.  If  my  short  purse 
had  been  more  frequently  honored  with  the 
visits  of  the  glittering  coin,  (or  even  despised 
bank  bills,)  which  have  been  too  much  like 
those  of  angels,  few,  &c.  the  case  would  have 
been  different.  The  establishment  of  a  new 
press  afforded  the  opportunity  of  offering  it 
to  my  fellow  townsmen,  the  publishers  volun- 
teering its  publication  on  fair  terms,  requiring 
no  security,  (which  means  entangling  one's, 
friends,)  beyond  the  subscription  list.  ?^^ 

The  humble  and  unpretending  character  of 
compilations  of  this  kind,  generally  ensures  to 
them  a  protection  against  criticism  :  were  it 
not  so,  the  circumstances  under  which  this 
has  been  put  together,  will  to  every  ingenuous 
mind,  excuse  its  defects  and  disarm  criticism. 
It  has  been  prepared  while  visited  with  severe 
family  sickness,  and  suffering  under  many  pri- 
vations— almost  sufficient  to  paralyze  exertion  ; 
surrounded  by  a  little  flock  of  roistering  urchins 
— mere  striplings,  incessantly  shouting  and 
throwing  up  their  caps  in  irrepressible  and 
boisterous  glee,  and  viewing  every  object  on 
the.  sunny  side.  Little  know  they  of  the  cor- 
roding cares  of  a  parent's  heart ;  ''  of  the  load 
of  life  which  we  are  doomed  to  bear  :"  the 
anxieties  which  are  continually  draining  the 
well  springs  of  life.     Happy,  if  age  shall  con- 


IV  PREFACE. 

firm  the  promises  of  youth  :  if  the  future  shall 
realize  to  them  a  moiety  of  its  visions,  and  if 
one  of  a  thousand  of  the  painted  bubbles  which 
now  float  in  their  imaginations,  shall  live, 
while  others  burst  and  fade  away  in  darkness 
— and  "  happy,  in  my  mind,  was  he  that 
died." 

I  am  indebted  to  Dr.  S.  Yf .  Williams,  Geo.  T. 
Davis  and  J.  C.  Alvord,  Esqrs.  for  valuable  pa- 
pers, affd  to  them  and  others  for  liberal  patron- 
age and  encouragement  in  my  humble  labors, 
which  have  cheated  life  of  hours  otherwise 
given  to  care  and  despondency.  What  I  re- 
gret more  than  any  thing  except  the  indiscre- 
tions and  imprudence  of  some  years  of  life,  is, 
that  the  same  leanness  of  piirse  before  alluded 
to,  prevents  my  placing  in  this  Book,  a  plate 
of  Turner's  Falls.     J\'~on  possum. 

If  after  a  candid  examination,  the  purchaser 
is  dissatisfied  because  the  work  does  not  come 
up  to  his  ideas,  or  contain  all  promised  in  the 
prospectus  (some  articles  have  been  omitted) 
and  finds  no  redeeming  portions,  he  may  as 
Yankees  do,  contrive  by  "  a  swop,"  or  other 
means,  to  get  as  much  out  of  the  next  man  he 
meets,  as  he  deems  himself  to  have  lost  in  this 
outlay,  and  I  assure  him  that  "  with  honest 
intention  I've  taken  him  in."  As  for  the 
censorious,  and  those  who  always  are,  and 
delight  in,  finding  fault,  having  no  desire  to 
suit  them,  I  have  no  expectation  that  I  shall 


do  so. 


Oct.  22,  1838. 


TO 


n£]¥RY  WEIilil^  CL.APP. 

As  by  your  suggestion  and  liberal  patronage, 
this  imperfect  History  of  a  Town  whose  inte- 
rests your  means  and  enterprise  have  promo- 
ted, was  undertaken,  to  you  it  is  respectfully 
dedicated. 

D,  W. 


The  Town  of  Greenfield,  Franklin  County,  Massa- 
chusetts, is  one  of  those  pleasant  and  beautiful  towns 
with  which  the  Connecticut  river  valley  abounds.  It  is 
about  ninety  miles  west  from  Boston,  75  East  from 
Albany,  and  nearly  in  a  line  between  the  two  :  is  40 
north  of  Springfield — 20  from  Northampton,  20  S.  from 
Brattleboro,  Yermont.  Bounded  north  by  Bernardston, 
S.  by  Deerfield,  E.  by  Connecticut  and  Fall  rivers — is 
about  one  mile  from  the  confluence  of  Green  and  Deer- 
field  rivers — two  from  that  of  the  Deerfield  and  Connec- 
ticut. The  character  of  the  scenery  around  is  pictu- 
resque and  inviting  : — of  its  buildings,  that  of  neatness 
and  comfort — some  partake  of  elegance  without  and 
within.  Here  are  men  with  hearts  and  without  hearts  ; 
the  poor  are  not  forgotten  :  and  hospitality  and  good 
neighborhood  abound. 

Population  in  18.37—1840.  lacrease  since  1830,  290. 
Polls  440. 


CONTENTS. 

CHAP.  I. 

Period  prior  to  Incorporation.     Notice  of  the  Indians. 
First  Occupants.     Grants.    Deerfield.    Seating  Meet- 
ing House.     Mode  of  Fortifying. 
CHAP.  II. 
Green  river  stream  granted. — Titles  to  land — how  ob- 
tained.   Green  river  people's  petition.    Indian  warfare. 
Anecdote  of  O.  Atherton.     Forts — petition  renewed, 
bounds  of  town  stated.     Schools.    Committee's  report 
on  South  line,  and  location  of  Meeting  House. — 23. 
CHAP.  III. 
Record  of  first  meeting,  &c.    Minister.   Wages.    Roads. 
Indians.    Meeting  House.     Sequestered  Lands.     Dif- 
ficulties with  the  Mother  Town. — 36. 
CHAP.  IV. 
Revolutionary  Times  and  Incidents.  Anecdotes  of  Benja. 
Hastings.     Agrippa  Wells.     Samuel  Hinsdale.     Act 
against  monopoly  and  oppression — prices  of  articles 
stated.      Counterfeiting.     Judge   Hawley.     Tariff  of 
prices.     Depreciation  of  currency. — 52. 

CHAP.  V. 
Insurrection  under  Daniel  Shays.    Anecdotes. — 75. 
CHAP.  VI. 
Great  sickness  of  1802.     Political  Parties.     Difficulties 
respecting  location  of  new  Meeting  House — Division 
of  the  town  petitioned  for.     Ministerial. — 90. 
CHAP.  VII. 
Ecclesiastical  History. — 99. 
CHAP.  VIII. 
Extracts  from  the  Diary  of  Rev.  R.  Newton.— 121. 
CHAP.  IX. 
Biographical  Sketches  and  Anecdotes  of  men  of  Olden 
Times.     Phillis  and  Jack.     Col.  Moore  and  his  busi- 
ness— Mill — Counterfeiting.     Raisings — Uncle  David 
— his  Courtship.     Huskings,  &c.  &cc.  &c.  &c. 
CHAP.  X. 
Lavryers.     Physicians.     Graduates. — 161. 
CHAP.  XI. 
Notice  of  the  Early  Traders.     Manufactories.     News- 
papers.    Mails  and  Stages.     High  Schools.     Schools. 
Banks.     Scenery,    Turner's  Falls.    Witches. — 170. 


J 


HISTORY 


GREENFIELD 


CHAPTER  I. 

Period  prior  to  incorporation.  Indians.  First  Occupants. 
Grants.      Deerjietd.      Sundry  particulars.      Schools. 
^    Taxes.     Grain. 

Of  so  recent  occurrence,  in  the  history  of  the  hunnan 
race,  is  every  event  or  circumstance,  connected  with 
that  of  our  own  country,  particularly  so,  those  of  any 
individual  town,  that  although  the  historian  of  the  whole 
country  finds  much  to  record  of  a  most  instructive  and 
interesting  character,  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  much 
can  be  embraced  in  the  annals  of  a  small  district 
not  five  miles  square,  and  not  deemed  of  sufficient  con- 
sequence to  be  incorporated  at  an  earlier  date  than  1763. 
Eighty-five  years;  nay  not  so  much :  that  term  is  not 
fully  complete  and  ended  :  not  so  long  a  term  as  is  allot- 
ted to  many  an  individual  of  our  short  lived  race. 

Here  is  surely  little  scope  for  indulging  the  excursions 
of  fancy :  to  the  lover  of  romance  or  novelty,  the  repast 
to  be  furnished  is  dry  and  uninviting ;  too  much 
like  the  apple  of  Sodom,  which  though  presenting  an 
agreeable  exterior  to  the  eye,  contains  nothing  better 
within  than  dust  and  ashes. 

The  settlers  at  Plymouth  and  the  neighboring  country, 
became  acquainted  with  the  region  bordering  the  Con- 
necticut, by  means  of  adventurers  who  sailed  up  the 
stream  and  from  the  reports  of  the  Indians.  The  Gover- 
2 


10  HISTORY    OP 

nor  of  Plymouth  sent  persons  to  examine  the  river  and  land 
on  its  banks.  They  found  it  partially  cleared,  and  in  sit- 
uations favorable  the  natives  cultivated  corn  and  other 
esculents.  The  streams  abounded  with  fish  and  the  for- 
ests with  game.  The  moose,  deer,  bears,  wolves,  bea- 
ver, otter,  fox,  with  many  other  wild  animals  held  pos- 
session of  the  territory  in  common  with  the  Indian,  and 
neither  levied  contributions  from  the  ranks  of  the  other, 
of  more  than  his  necessities  required.  Immense  flocks 
of  pigeons  tenanted  the  woods, "and  innumerable  water- 
fowl enlivened  the  banks  of  the  streams. 

Prior  to  1753,  this  town  formed  a  part  of  Deerfield, 
the  first  settlement  of  v>^hich  commenced  in,  1671.  A 
company  of  men  in  Dedham  had  obtained  a  grant  of 
8O0O  acres  on  Pocomptuc  river ;  the  northern  boundary 
of  the  tract  forms  the  north  line  of  that  town  ;  a  sub- 
sequent grant  of  seven  miles  square  included  the  pres- 
ent town  of  Greenfield.  Truth,  tradition,  or  fiction, 
reports  those  who  went  out  to  viev/  the  lands,  to  have 
said  to  the  people  of  Dedham,  on  their  return,  among 
other  things,  after  "describing  the  ^excellent  character  of 
the  soil,  &c.  "  Providence  led  us  to  that  place.  It  id 
indeed  far  away  from  our  plantations,  and  the  Canaanites 
and  the  AuialeJdtes  dwell  in  that  valley,  and  if  they  have 

Note.  In  1633.  The  Plymouth  Colony  found  the 
Dutch  settled  at  Hartford.  Springfield  was  settled  1636, 
by  a  company  from  Roxbury.  In  1639,  the  first  printing 
press  in  North  America  was  set  up  at  Cambridge. 

In  1633  the  country  on  the  Connecticut  began  to  attract 
attention,  several  vessels  went  into  the  river  this  year  to 
trade  ;  several  persons  from  Dorchester  had  travelled 
westward  as  far  as  the  Connecticut  river  and  noticed  sev- 
eral places  eligible  for  settlement.  The  jealousy  of  the 
parent  country,  or  rather  of  its  arbitrary  monarch,  was 
thus  early  excited  and  an  order  was  issued  by  the  privy 
council  to  stay  several  ships  in  the  Thames,  freighted 
with  passengers  and  provisions  ;  great  numbers  however 
during  the  year  came  over. — Holmes. 


GREENFIELD.  11 

any  attachment  to  any  spot  on  earth,  must  delight  to  live 
there.  But  that  land  must  be  ours.  Our  people  have 
resolute  and  pious  hearts  and  strong  hands,  to  overconrie 
all  ditficullies.  Let  us  go  and  possess  the  land,  and  in 
a  iew  years  you  will  hear  more  boast  of  it  in  this  colony, 
as  a  land  good  for  flocks  and  herds,  than  could  ever  be 
justly  said  of  the  land  of  Goshen,  or  any  part  of  the 
Land  of  Canaan."  *  | 

Whether  such  language  as  the  foregoing  was  used  by 
these  men  or,  whether  they  entertained  such  ideas  or  not — 
one  thing  is  certain,  that  in  too  many  instances  the  na- 
tives were  defrauded,  shamefully  defrauded  and  imposed 
upon  by  the  settlers  of  the  country  :  that  the   principle 
*  The  good  old  rule,  the  simple  plan. 
That  they  should  take  who  have  the  power, 
And  they  should  keep  who  can,' 

was  at  that  day  and  is  now,  too  generally  the  rule  of  ac- 
tion. Of  this,  the  observation  and  experience  of  almost 
every  one,  afford  painful  examples,  and  that  too  in  seme, 
who  profess  to  be  under  the  blessed  influence  of  our 
Holy  Religion.  The  character  of  our  pilgrim  fathers, 
those  stern  and  hardy  men,  upon  which  so  many  of  us 
delight  to  dwell,  which  is  the  theme  of  praise  for  many  a 
writer,  suffers  in  some  respects  by  a  comparison  with  that 
of  the  sons  of  theforest,  with  only  the  light  of  Nature  to 
guide  them,  without  science  and  almost  without  art. 
These  men  never  punished  for  witchcraft  nor  for  matter 
of  opinion. 

{  A  deed  of  part  of  the  grant,  made  to  John  Pynch- 
eon  for  the  use  of  the  English  at  Dedham,  by  Chauk  or 
Chague,  Sachem  of  Pocomptuc  and  his  brother,  Wassa- 

*  This  grant  contained  a  proviso  that  an  Orthodox 
minister  should  be  settled  within  three  years,  and  a  farm 
of  250  acres  be  laid  out  for  the  Country's  use.  This  is 
said  to  have  been  laid  at  what  is  called  "  Country  Farms," 

t  Worthington's  History  of  Dedham, 

i  Hoyt's  Antiq.  Res. 


12  HISTORY    OF 

boale,  is  extant,  dated  Feb.  24,  1665, — prior  to  the  Gov- 
ernment grant,  Capt.  Pyncheon  procured  four  deeds  fronn 
the  Indians  for  which  the  proprietors  of  Dedham  paid 
i3  94,10.  The  first  named  deed  was  witnessed  by  We- 
quonnock,  "  who  helped  the  sachem  in  making  the  bar- 
gain." This  deed  reserves  to  the  Indians,  the  right  of 
fishing  in  the  rivers  or  waters  :  hunting  deer  or  othej 
wild  animals  :  gathering  walnuts  and  other  nuts  an^ 
things  on  the  commons. 

As  no  part  of  this  territory  was  included  in  these  pur- 
chases, it  does  not  appear  thtt  the  Indians  received  any 
compensation  for  it,  but  from  circumstances,  it  has  been 
presumed  they  did. 

Time  has  shown  that  the  longer  their  residence  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  white  man  continued,  the  more  vicious 
and  corrupt  they  became,  and  that  they  were  almost  inva- 
riably the  objects,  or  subjects  of  his  fraud  and  imposi- 
tion. From  the  first  settlement  of  the  whites  among 
them,  they  have  constantly  been  dwindling  in  numbers  : 
they  continue  to  be  driven  farther  and  still  farther  fovv- 
ards  the  setting  sun,  by  the  resdess  flow  of  emigration 
and  the  cupidity  of  white  men  ;  their  habits  are  unsocial 
and  altogether  averse  to  those  of  civilized  life.  An  Indi- 
an wants  no  splendid  mansion,  nor  elegant  furniture,  nor 
bed  of  down ;  he  will  not  learn  to  manufacture  a  button 
or  a  jewsharp,  or  to  drive  a  team  ;  he  wants  no  work- 
shop, he  can  "  catch  no  beaver  there."  The  forest  is 
his  home,  and  his  delight  is  in  the  chase  and  by  the  river 
side.-  Nature  has  so  taught  him,  and  before  he  became 
contaminated  by  a  proximity  to,  and  dealing  with  the 
white  man,  he  lived  according  to  her  dictates.  But 
the  time  is  now  rapidly  approaching  when  the  race  shall 
be  utterly  extinct  and  annihilated. 

The  war  whoop  shall  soon  no  longer  be  heard,  neither 
by  forest,  nor  hill,  nor  stream  ;  no  longer  shall  the  Indian 
want  the  right  of  fishing  in  the  rivers,  or  gathering  nuts 
on  the  commons,  or  hunting  deer  in  the  woods  ;  the 


GREENFIELD.  13 

Stately  form  of  ihe  son  of  Nature  shall  soon  no  longer 
be  seen  in  any  part  of  the  land  ;  the  besom  of  des- 
truction is  fast  sweeping  him  away  from  the  home  of  his 
youth  and  the  grave  of  his  fathers.  The  whiteman 
wants  his  land,  and  will  have  it. 

Who  is  there  to  mourn  for  Logan  ?  not  one.* 
Our  ancestors  denounced  the  natives  as  savage  bar- 
barians. They  committed  no  offences  without  provoca- 
tion, and  in  the  long  black  catalogue  of  crimes  committed 
in  Chri:?tian  nations,  but  fewy  comparatively  are  found  to 
occur  among  this  uncivilized  race.  Is  ingratitude  among 
the  number  of  their  sins?  The  most  eminent  and  glori- 
ous examples  of  Ihe  opposite  are  upon  recoi'd.  Was  an' 
Indian  ever  guilty  of  suicide,  seduction,  fraud,  scandal, 
and  innumerable  other  sins  ?  Did  an  Indian  ever  sell 
wooden  nutmegs,  cucimiber  seeds,  horn  flints  or  pow- 
der, under  pretence  that  by  planting  it  would  produce, 
its  like  1  While  he  may  take  your  life  in  war,  or 
torture  you  as  his  victim,  he  would  disdain  to  persecute 
you  for  opposing  his  favorite  opinions,  to  take  away  your 
reputation  for  revenge,  or  defraud  you  of  your  property, 
which  you  might  value  equally  with  life. 

The  civilized  man  will  exert  all  the  power  over  you 
which  the  Law  will  give  him,  oftentimes  more  ;  and  if 
you  stand  in  his  way  or  incur  his  resentment,  his  tender 
mercies  are  often  cruel  compared  with  the  tomahawk,- 
which  destroys  at  a  blow  and  all  is  over.  Subjected  as 
many  are  to  obloquy  and  the  persecutions  of  society — 
their  death  is  slow  and  lingering — while  the  Indian  tor- 

*  See  the  Story  of  Logan,  a  Mingo  Chief  by  Jefferson. 

Note  On  the  fii*st  arrival  of  the  English  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, messengers  from  the  Conestogo  Indians,  came  to 
welcome  them,  with  presents  of  Venison,  corn  and  skins  ; 
and  the  whole  tribe  entered  into  a  treaty  of  friendship 
with  the  first  proprietor,  William  Penn,  which  was  to 
ast  "as  long  as  the  sun  should  shine,  or  the  waters  run 

2* 


14  HISTORY    Of* 

tures  Ihe  body  only.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  more 
acts  of  cruelty  have  been  committed  on  this  continent 
by  the  French,  Spanish  and  English,  or  by  their  instiga- 
tion, than  by  the  natives. 

What  think  you  attached  them  to  this  section  ?     Was 
ii  merely  the  rich  soil  of  the  meadows?     No, — the  riv- 
ei's  literally  swarmed  with  fish  ;  the  salmon  and  the  shad  ;* 
fhe  hills  and  the  plains  were  stocked  with  vvild  game. 
'     '  The  Gael  of  vale  and  river  heir,  - 

Will  with  strong  hand  redeem  his  share.' 

Have  I  drawn  too  dark  a  picture  of  the  tvkits  man, 
the  boasted  lover  of  liberty  and  equality  and  the  rights 
of  man,  and  too  light  a  one  of  the  dark  savage  ? — 
Tnere  are  exceptions  and  redeeming  qualities,  where  the 
niild  and  beneficent  spirit  of  the  Christian  religion  has 
had  its  due  influence  upon  the  mind. 

The  dislike  of  the  Indians  to  laborious  employments 
— their  love  of  a  wandering  life,  vices  acquired  by  their 
ititercourse  with  white  men,  diminution  of  means  of  Jiv- 
ifsg  by  the  disappearance  of  game  caused  by  the  en- 
croachments of  civilization — these  causes  proved  sufH- 

}»  the  rivers."  This  treaty  has  been  since  frequently 
renew^ed  and  the  chain  brightened  as  they  express  it, 
from  time  to  time,  as  their  lands  were  by  degrees  mostly 
purchased  and  the  settlements  of  the  white  people  began 
o  surround  them,  the  proprietor  assigned  them  lands  on 
:he  manor  of  Conestogo,  which  they  might  not  part 
with  ;  there  they  have  live  I  many  years  in  friendship 
with  their  white  neighbors,  who  loved  them  for  their 
Y^eaceable,  inoffensive  behaviour.  It  has  alway  been  ob- 
servee,  that  Indians  settled  in  the  neighborhood  of  white 

*  Thousands  of  shad  have  been  taken  in  a  day  within 
the  memory  of  some  now  living,  at  the  Falls  near  Rus- 
3ell's  Factory,  with  scoop  nets  and  seines,  and  sold  for  a 
penny — sometimes  a  copper  apiece.  The  erection  of 
dams  on  the  river  has  long  since  lessened  the  numbers 
which  pass  up  the  river. 


GREENFIELD.  15 

cient  to  produce  the  decline  of  their  race.  These  have 
been  operating  gradually,  but  constantly  for  200  years. 

In  the  midst  of  such  a  people,  whose  habits  and  ways 
of  living  were  unsocial  and  every  way  unconnected  with 
almost  every  object  associated  with  the  ideas  the  settlers 
had  formed  of  beauty  or  utility,  decency,  propriety 
or  the  fitness  of  things,  with  an  entire  ignorance  of 
all  the  arts  and  blandishments  of  civilized  lile,  and  a 
temper  at  war  with  it :  the  immediate  ancestors  of  many 
now  residing  in  this  town  and  vicinity,  set  themselves 
down,  intending  to  maintain  all  the  institutions  of  culti- 
vated society.  Before  and  behind  and  all  around  them 
an  almost  interminable  forest  was  spread  out.  The  wild 
beasts  here  had  their  home  and  homesteads,  their  dwel- 
ling and  pasture  ground.  Not  a  trace  of  them  is  now 
to  be  found.  Every  where  they  have  faded  avvav  with 
the  Indian  and  his  wigwam, — while  the  step  of  the 
white  man  is  onward,  still  onward,  still  encroaching  upon 
the  limits  of  the  Indian  and  the  Deer,  far  away  towards 
the  setting  sun. 

'  Look  now  abroad  ;  another  race  has  filled 

These  populous  borders  ;  wide  the  wood  recedes 

And  towns  shoot  up,  and  fertile  realms  are  tilled  ; 
The  land  is  full  "of  harvests  and  green  meads  ; 
The  full  region  leads 

New  colonies  forth,  that  toward  the  western  seas 

Spread  like  a  rapid  flame  among  the  autumnal  trees.' 

An  elegant  writer,  treating  more  particularly  of  the 
Indians  of  the  '*  Six  Nations"  of  the  State  of  New- 
York,  attributes  to  them  traits  of  character  of  the  no- 
blest kind,  and  gives  it  as   his  opinion   that   no  nation, 

people  do  not  increase,  but  diminish  continually.  This 
tribe  accordingly  went  on  diminishing,  till  there  remained 
in  their  town  on  the  manor  but  20  persons. —  Works  S^c. 
of  Franklin  by  Sparks,  Vol.  4, 

These  were  inhumanly  butchered  by  a  band  of  desper- 
adoes in  the  year  1763,  without  provocation. 


16  HISTORY    OF 

since  the  time  of  the  Romans,  have  cultivated  Oratory 
to  the  same  extent  and  with  the  same  success.  Their 
conceptions  are  strong  and  vigorous,  their  metaphors  and 
imagery,  bold  and  impressive,  and  every  name  given  by 
them  to  inanimate  objects  or  to  one  another,  has  a  dis- 
tinctive meaning  in  its  application. 

In  war  or  peace  ;  in  the  midst  of  change  and  revolu- 
tion, near  or  remote,  they  have  remained  like  the  Jews, 
a  distinct  people  ;  and  it  requires  wiser  heads  than  ours 
to  see  the  justice  of  that  policy,  which,  while  it  offers 
home  and  protection  to  foreigners  of  all  nations,  seems 
to  pursue  a  system  any  other  than  protective  of  the  na- 
tives, the  rightful  inhabitants  of  the  soil.  The  weak, 
the  defenceless  and  the  poor  have  ever  suffered  from  the 
encroachments  of  the  strong,  the  powerful  and  the  rich, 
and  always  will,  as  poverty  is  taken  as  presumptive  evi- 
dence of  want  of  merit ;  almost  of  actual  guilt.  In  the 
history  of  these  nations  and  their  decline,  as  well  as  the 
settlement  of  our  ancestors  in  this  country,  we  have  a 
display  of  the  mysterious  d  jings  of  that  Providence, 
"which  shapes  our  ends,  rough  hew  them  how  we  will," 
unfathomable  and  inscrutable  ;  and  that  the  leading  and 
guiding  hand  of  that  Providence  is  distinctly  to  be  traced 
in  all  the  events  connected  therewith,  I  make  no  manner 
of  doubt. 

"  The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth  ;  thou  hearest  the 
sound  thereof  but  canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh  nor 
whither  it  goeth."  Great  and  wise  ends  wer^  to  be  an- 
swered by  the  peopling  this  vast  continent,  capable  of 
supporting  millions  more  than  it  did,  and  affording  a 
home  for  the  surplus  population  of  Europe  ;  but  from 
this  cannot  be  drawn  an  argument  to  justify  the  innu- 
merable acts  of  oppression  and  knavery  which  took 
place  in  consequence. 

The  conduct  of  the  enlightened  and  virtuous  William 
Penn  affords  an  illustrious  example  of  the  course  which 
reason  and  religion  dictates  in  relation  to  the  natives. 


GREENFIELD.  17 

But  he  was  a  quaker,  and  the  pilgrims  could  not  endure 
them. 

The  situation  in  which  the  colonists  found  themselves, 
their  common  privations,  wants  and  hopes,  and  dangers, 
necessarily  led  to  an  intimate  connexion  and  union 
among  themselves,  to  which  is  perhaps  attributable  the 
peculiar  characteristics  for  which  they  were,  and  their 
posterity  still  are,  distinguished.  Perseverance,  un- 
yielding fortitude,  resolution,  unwavering  faith  and  cour- 
age were  leading  and  prominent  traits  in  their  character. 

As  this  town  formed  a  part  of  Deerficid,  extracts  are 
here  taken  from  the  records  of  that  town  so  far  as  they 
are  applicable. 

1686.  The  first  notice  to  be  faund  of  the  occupation 
of  any  part  of  this  town  by  an  individual  is,  that  a  tract 
of  Land  of. 20  acres  was  granted  to  a  Mr.  Brooks  on 
Green  River.  Here  tradition  comes  to  our  aid,  and  lo- 
cates his  dwelling  near  the  Bakery  of  Mr.  George  P. 
Field.  The  well  at  the  next  house,  Mr.  Eli  Fisk's,  is 
suppposed  to  be  the  first  one  dug.  The  grants  made 
subsequent  to  this  when  the  Village  Lots  were  laid  out, 
comprised  but  a  few  acres.  It  seems  from  record,  as  by 
tradition,  that  the  Grantees  of  that  period  were  not  very  _ 
exact  and  particular  in  defining  their  bounds  for  perma- 
nancy,  or  otherwise.  For  instance,  the  great  public  road 
from   Northampton,  in   this    direction    is  said  to  have 

been  described  as  bounded  at  one  place  on  s  Oat 

trough.  The  Stage  road  from  Deerfield,  North,  through 
this  town,  the  record  of  which,  may  be  found,  copied, 
in  the  appendix,  bounds  on  Aaron  Denio's  barn.  What 
should  we  think  at  this  day  of  a  deed  of  a  valuable  piece 
of  Land,    defined   after  this   manner, — at    one    corner 

where s,  old   white  horse  died, — at  another  by   a 

great  pile  of  rails, — or  the  following,  which  speculators 
at  the  present  day  would  like  well,  "  so  far  round  as  the 
good  land  goelh,"  which  we  are  informed  made  a  part  of 
the  description  in  a  deed  of  land  in  this  vicinity.     Of 


18  HISTORY    OF 

some  Land,  however,  it  is  said,  that  the  more  a  man  has 
of  it,  the  poorer  he  is. 

The  same  year,  (1686,)  Grants  of  20  acre  lots  were 
made  to  John  Allyn  and  Edward  Allyn,  on  the  condition 
of  their  paying  taxes  &c.,  and  to  Joseph  and  Robert 
Goddard  on  the  like  terms. 

In   16S7,  Grants  of  twenty  acre  lots  were  made  to 
Jeremiah  Hull, 
Ebenr.  Wells, 
*  Samuel  Smead, 
Nathl.   Brooks,  Grant  renewed, 
Philip  Mattoon, 
vG.  &  R.  Goddard, 
Nathl;  Cooke, 
|JoHN  &  Edw.  Allyn. 
*'  A  record  of  the  home  Lots,  up  Green  River,  tho 
South  side  of  the  Street  to  begin  at  the  West  end  'Ebon- 

^  *  William  Smead  came  to  Deerfield  as  early  as  1684. 
The  fiiniily  is  of  Welsh  descent.  One  of  this  name 
was  killed  in  Latlirop's  battle  in  1675,  and  was  probably 
a  descendant  of  William  Smead  who  settled  in  Dorches- 
ter in  1653.~  From  these  have  descended,  as  is  said,  all 
the  families  of  that  name  in  this  part  of  the  country, 
probably  all  of  that  namCj  in  the  U.  States.  They  have 
always  maintained  a  highly  respectable  standing  in  this 
town,andsome  of  them  have  held  important  public  stations, 
t  These  were  the  sous  of  Edward  Allyn,  one  of  the 
principal  men  from  Watertown  who  settled  in  Dedham 
and  wrote  the  first  records  of  that  town.  His  lot  extend- 
ed from  the  High  School  at  the  present  bounds  of  the 
Street  as  far  down  perhaps  as  Mr.  Mark's  house, — but 
this  is  uncertain.  He  was  the  ancestor  of  Mr.  Amos 
Allen  of  Shelburn,  and  the  late  much  respected  Mr.  Q. 
Allen.  Edward  Allen's  house  was  where  the  High 
School  stands  ;  it  was  built  of  heavy  hewn  logs — was  a 
fort  and  a  public  house.  Rev.  Mr.  Newton  lived  there 
soon  after  he  was  settled — afterwards  Mr.  Bound,  a  Ba- 
ker. Mr.  N.  sold  the  Lot  to  Wm.  Colman  Esq.  for  about 
$1500, 


GREENFIELD."  19 

ezer  Wells  1st,  and  David  Iloyt  the  2d,  Wm.  Brooks 
the  3d  and  4th,*  Edward  Allyn  6th.  The  rest  on  that 
side  not  taken  up.  On  the  north  side  to  begin  on  the 
West  end.  Samuel  Smead  the  1st,  the  Mill  Lot  2d, 
Josiah  and  Robert  Goddard's  3d  and  4th,  John  Sever- 
ance 5th,  Jeremiah  Hall  6th,  John  Allyn  7th.  There 
were  20  Lots  laid  out." 

Many  of  these  Grants  were  forfeited.  The  condi- 
tion annexed  to  all  of  them  was,  that  the  Grantees 
should  continue  three  years^as  residents  after  they  be- 
came 21  years  of  age,  pay  taxes,  and  their  proportion 
of  the  Indian  purchase.  The  Indians  received  what 
they  perhaps  considered  an  equivalent — and  it  has  been 
said  that  they  received  all  it  was  worth  ;  one  thing  seems 
certain,  that  whether  it  was  worth  any  more  than  the 
price  paid,  to  the  settlers  in  its  then  state  or  not,  it  Was 
in  reality  so  to  the  Indians.  ^ 

1695.  The  jGreen  River  Lands,  by  a  vote  of  the 
proprietors,  were  allowed  to  go  rate  free, — the  town  rate 
of  Deerfield  was  made  payable  in  "  pork  and  corn,  good 
and  merchantable." 

1698.  A  vote  was  passed  in  reference  to  Schools 
by  which  those  who  had  children  between  the  ages  of 
6  and  iO  years,  were  compelled  to  pay  whether  they  sent 
them  or  not,  and  those  of  over  ten  and  under  six  paid 
only  for  the  time  of  attending.  At  this  time  the  former 
mode  of  raising  money  ("or  town  charges  was  changed, 
and  they  concluded,  "  to  raise  said  rates  by  way  of  ap- 
praisal this  year,  of  all  rateable  estate,  and  a  committee 
was  chosen,  whose  work  was  to  appraise  all  rateable  es- 
tate upon  these  rules,  according  to  their  best  judgment 
and  contrivance. 

*  Opposite  Mr.  Elihu  Severance's,  still  called  the  Hoyt 
Lot. 

t  Called  by  the  Indians,  Picomegan  or  the  boring 
river. 


20  HISTORY    OF 

"  Lands  not  exceeding  £2  per  acre  and  so  to  descend 
downwards,  descending  or  proportion  to  ye  rate  having 
respect  to  distance  of  Lands  from  home  and  as  for  good- 
ness what  it  is  naturally  and  not  by  industry.  Stock, 
an  ox  at  £6,  Cow  £2,  Horse  £3,  the  first  and  so  to  de- 
scend downwards  according  to  age  and  goodness. 
Rateable  swine  not  fatning,  lOs  first,  and  descend  as 
aforesaid  ;  rateable  sheep  at  5s  the  first  and  so  on  &c. 

In  1699,  thirty  acres  of  land  each,  were  granted  to 
Samuel  Root  and  Joseph  Petty  on  Green  River.  To 
Michael  Mitchell  30  acres  and  a  homelot  of  4. 

Jonathan  Wells  and  others  were  chosen  a  commhtee 
to  view  all  Orants  upon  Green  River,  and  to  '*  condemn 
such  Grants  as  are  in  their  own  nature  condeninable." 

Bird  ^ Law.  Every  householder  shall  kill  12  black- 
birds apiece  this  summer  or  else  what  they  shall  want  of 
such  number,  shall  pay  —  pence  apiece  in  ye  town  rate 
and  vvha.t  they  shall  kill  above  said  number  shall  receive 
of  the  Town  —  pence  apiece  until  last  of  May,  after, 
till  middle  Sept.,  one  half  pence  ;  crows  4d. 

Mill.  Joseph  Parsons  of  Northampton  had  obli- 
gated himself  to  set  up  a  corn  mill,  where  there  was  a 
saw  mill,  fit  to  grind  before  the  last  of  May  1693.  Toll 
allowed  him,  0!;e  i2th  of  all  grain  except  wheat,  and 
barley  malt ;  one  14th  part  of  provender,  one  18th  part 
of  barley  malt.  At  a  meeting  held  Aug.  1699,  he  re- 
quested liberty  to  set  up  a  corn  mill  on  Green-River, 
which  was  granted  for  one  year.  At  a  subsequent  meet- 
ing, a  Committee  was  chosen  to  confer  with  Mr.  P.  con- 
cerning a  corn  mill  built  by  him  in  D.  whether  he  will 
adhere  to  the  bargain  and  keep  his  mill  in  good  repair 
or  give  it  up  into  the  hands  of  the  town. 

Dec.  4.  A  committee  was  chosen,  Lt.  Hoit,  Lt. 
John  Sheldon,  Thomas  French,  whose  work  was  to 
state  the  bounds  of  Green  River  Town  Plot. 

The  prices  of  Grain  between  man  and  man  were 
stated — Summer  wheat    4s,  Rye  3s,    end   Com   2s. 


GREENFIELD.  21 

Grants  of  Land  of  30  acres  each,  on  Green  River, 
to  Martin  Kellogg,  Zeb.  Williams,  John  Severance. 

Seating  the  Meeting  House. — In  1701,  a  vote  is 
found  upon  record  for  the  honored  and  aristocratic  cer- 
emony of  seating  the  meeting  house.  "The  fore-seat 
in  the  front  Gallery  be  equal  in  dignity  with  2d  seat  in 
the  body  of  the  meeting  house.  Foreseats  in  side  Galle- 
ry equal  in  dignity  to  4th  seat  in  the  body.  Second  seat 
in  front  Gallery  and  hinder  seat  in  same  to  5th  in  the 
body,"  and  all  this  in  a  small  meeting  house,  which  most 
likely  was  made  of  Logs. 

They  opened  their  common  fields  about  the  1st  Oc- 
tober, near  a  month  earlier  thian  is  done  at  this  day. — 
Town  charges  paid  in  produce.  Rye  3s.  Barley  3s. 
Oats  Is. 

March,  1700. — The  following  is  found  on  the  same 
records: — "Notwithstanding  persons  have  taken  up 
several  home  lots  upon  Green  River,  under  the  sum  of 
8  acres  apiece,  yet,  now  the  town  hath  hereby  granted 
that  all  persons  that  have  taken  up  lands,  shall  have  8 
acres  apiece  in  their  home  lots." 

It  was  about  these  days  that  the  people  voted  that 
every  swine  of  14  in.  hie,  found  on  the  common  fields, 
(after  they  were  opened)should  be  liable  to  be  impounded 
and  the  owners  fined  six  pence  per  head,  and  to  pay 
their  school  master  $25  a  year  in  grain. 

In  1703,  the  town  of  Deerfield  was  destroyed  by  the 
French  and  Indians,  under  De  Rouviile.  Great  num- 
bers were  killed  or  carried  away  captive,  among  whom 
we  find  the  names  of  Hinsdel,  Hastings,  Nims,  Smead, 
Brooks,  Corse,  Denio,  Wells. 

This  was  in  the  reign  of  Anne,  Queen  of  England, 
with  whom  the  French  were  at  war,  and  the  French  set- 
tlers in  Canada,  took  the  liberty  of  instigating  the  Indi- 
ans to  join  them,  and  bring  trouble  upon  these  border 
settlers,  who  had  never  troubled  them.  The  Indians 
would  have  never  thought  of  stirring  in  this  matter,  but> 
3 


22  HISTORY   OF 

for  these  Frenchmen.  The  total  population  of  the  state 
was  then  estimated  at  70,000,  and  that  of  Connecticut 
at  30,000,  and  the  French  population  of  Canada  proper 
at  only  about  8500— Militia  1000. 

A  detailed  and  interesting  account  of  the  destruction 
ofDeerfield  at  this  period,  may  be  found  in  Hoyt's 
Antiq.  Researches,  Chapt,  xi.  The  force  consisted  of 
200  French  and  140  Indians.  As  at,  probably,  a  later 
period,  several  forts  were  maintained  in  this  village — 
the  following  description  from  that  work  may  not  be 
unacceptable  to  some  readers  who  do  not  possess  it : — 

"  The  mode  of  fortifying  in  the  frontier  towns  at  this 
time  was  rude  and  imperfect,  calculated  merely  for  de- 
fence against  slight  attacks.  In  many  cases  single 
houses-were  surrounded  with  palisades  of  cleft  or  hewn 
timber  planted  perpendicular  in  the  ground  without  ditch- 
es, and  the  larger  works  enclosing  villages,  were  much 
of  the  same  nature.  In  some  cases  single  houses  were 
constructed  of  square  timber  laid  horizontally,  and  lock- 
ed at  the  angles,  and  loop  holes  were  pierced  on  every 
side  for  fireing  upon  an  enemy.  The  walls  of  framed 
houses  were  commonly  lined  with  brick,  the  upper  sto- 
ry projected,  and  loop  holes  prepared  to  fire  down  upon 
the  enemy  in  case  of  a  close  approach,  &c.  A  work 
called  a  mount,  was  often  erected  at  exposed  points. — 
These  were  a  kind  of  elevated  block  house  affording  a 
view  of  the  neighboring  country,  and  where  they  were 
wanting,  sentry  boxes  were  generally  placed  on  the 
roofs  of  bouses." 

For  a  succession  of  years  the  records  of  the  country 
and  the  records  of  tradition  furnish  little  or  nothing  com- 
ing within  our  province.  The  number  of  inhabitants  in 
this  section  of  the  country  was  then  comparatively  very 
small,  and  occupied,  as  they  must  have  been,  in  the 
clearing  of  lands  and  making  preparations  for  future 
comfort ;  harrassed  by  calls  for  military  service,  and  the 
occasional  incursions  of  Indians,  little  chance  was  af- 


QREENFIELD.  '  23 

forded  for  the  acquisition  of  property  by  the  cultivation 
of  the  land,  or  in  any  other  way.  All  their  energies 
must  have  been,  of  necessity,  constantly  exerted  for  sup- 
port and  defence.  Many  of  the  young  men  were  cut  off 
by  the  wars  and  by  diseases,  and  any  other  than  a  hardy 
and  persevering  race  of  men,  fearless  and  determined, 
would  have  abandoned  the  contest  with  so  much  of  pri- 
vation and  insecurity. 

Rye  had  been  for  some  time  cultivated.  In  1633, 
the  first  specimen  of  it  was  brought  to  the  Court  of  Mas- 
sachusetts as  the  first  fruits  of  English  grain.  This 
"  poor  people,"  says  Johnson,  an  early  writer,  "  greatly 
rejoiced  to  see  the  land  would  bear  it." 

Note. — 1704,  The  Boston  News  Letter,  the  first 
newspaper  published  in  America,  was  issued  this  year. 
In  1685,  in  the  reign  of  James  the  2d.  the  first  Postmas- 
ter of  New  England,  Mr.  Randolph,  was  appointed  by 
the  Lord  Treasurer  Rochester.  The  fii'st  Post  Office 
was  established  in  1710.  In  HH,  the  trade  of  this  state 
employed  3493  sailors — 492  ships,  making  25,406  tons. — 
Duty  on  English  goods,  one  joercent. 


CHAPTER  XL 

PRIOR    TO    INCORPORATION. 

Green  River  stream  granted — Titles  to  land  how  obtain- 
ed— Indians — Green  River  people^s  petition  to  be  set 
off- —  Granted — Boundaries — Indian  warfare — Forts — 
Petition  renewed^  granted^  bounds  stated — Commit- 
tees report  on  south  line,  and  locating  Meeting  House. 

1713-14. — In  January  a  grant  was  made  by  the  pro- 
prietors, to  Capt.  Wells,  of  the  Green  River  Stream^  to 


24  HISTORY   OF 

set  up  a  mill  on  the  following  conditions  : — "  The  said 
Wells  shall  take  for  his  toll  the  14th  part  of  Rye,  the 
16th  part  of  wheat,  the  12th  part  of  corn,  and  other 
grain  not  specified  ;  and  by  Michaelmas  day  they  are  to 
give  said  Wells  fifty  pounds  more  of  money."  The 
town  reserved  the  privilege  of  setting  a  saw  mill  upon 
the  same  stream,  "  provided  workmen  of  that  occupa- 
tion judge  that  a  saw  mill  may  be  built  there  without 
damage  to  the  corn  mill ;  said  Wells  having  the  first  of- 
fer of  a  place  for  a  saw  mill,  and  he  restore  the  town  his 
liberty  to  grant  it  to  other  men,  they  agreeing  with  said 
Capt.  Wells  upon  such  terms  as  indifferent  men  shall 
judge  proper." 

Mill. — "  The  town  of  Greenfield  doe  hereby  grant  un- 
to sd  Jona.  Wells  and  to  his  heirs  ye  stream  aforesaid  so 
long  as  they  shall  maintain  a  corn  mill  upon  it  to  dee  ye 
towns  work,  notwithstanding  ye  town  doth  reserve  to 
themselves  a  liberty  to  set  a  saw  mill  upon  ye  same 
stream  provided  workmen  of  ye  occupation  together  wt 
a  committee  chosen  by  the  town  for  ye  purpose  doe 
judge  yt  a  saw  mill  may  bee  built  there  without  any  con- 
siderable damage  to  ye  corn  mill ;  he  ye  said  Wells  hav- 
ing the  first  offer  of  ye  place  for  saw  mill,  &c.  (not  to  be 
rated  for  said  mill  for  town  charges.") 

^•'  Articles   of  agreement  made  and  concluded  be- 
tween Capt.  Jona.   Wells  of  D.  Co.  of  H.  in  her 
majesties  province  of  Ms.  bay  in  New  England  on 
1  part  and  the  T  of  Deerfield. 
Witneq<ses  ^^^'  ^^^^nard,  th.  ffrench, 

'  MERCY  CHILDS.  Sigud.  ELIEZER  HAWKS, 

THOS.  WELLS, 

1715.  They  voted  to  build  a  dam  for  Capt.  J.  Wells. 
The  presumption  is  that  a  dam  had  been  carried  away 
by  this  mad  stream,  subject  to  sudden  rise  and  irritation 
from  small  cause ;  it  often  has  such  freaks  now. 

1718.  Green  River  grants.  At  a  town  Meeting  in 
March,  the  proprietors  appointed  a  committee  to  make 


GREENFIELD.  25 

proposals  to  the  town  in  order  to  the  settlement  of  lands 
on  Green  River.     Their  report  follows  :  — 

"  That  whereas  there  Been  formerly  severall  grants  of 
lands  unto  particular  persons  on  ye  Green  River,  and 
no  place  mentioned  where  it  shall  be  laid  out,  we  do 
therefore  propose  that  Jeremiah  Hull,  Samuel  Smead, 
Wm.  Brooks,  Jos.  Goddard,  Robt.  Goddard,  John  Sev- 
erance, John  AUyn,  Edward  Allyn,  Benony  More,  Jo- 
seph Petty,  Peter  Evans,  Michael  Mitchell,  Ebepezer 
Severance,  Martin  Kellogg,  Zeb.  Williams,  have  their 
grants  laid  out  beginning  at  a  brook  called  Brooks's 
brook,  running  from  ye  Green  River  westwardly,  to  ye 
swamp  and  so  in  breadth  to  make  up  their  complement." 

A  committee  was  appointed  to  lay  out  said  grants,  "  to 
Brooks  1st,  the  rest,  above  and  below,  as  near  as  can  be 
to  places  where  said  men  pretend  it  should  be."  Com- 
monage was  to  be  allotted  them  in  lands  adjacent,  pro- 
portioned to  other  proprietors  ;  to  build  mansion  houses 
on  their  lots  on  the  town  plat,  within  two  years,  and  live 
on  said  lands  three  years,  and  if  driven  off  by  the  Indians, 
a  further  time  of  five  years  was  allowed  them  to  make 
good  their  title.  All  having  lands  laid  out  west  of  Green 
River,  were  to  maintain  a  fence  sufficient  to  prevent 
cattle,  &c.  from  crossing. 

1719.  A  vote  passed  to  lay  out  a  road  up  the  river 
to  the  Country  farms.* 

1720.  It  was  voted  to  *'  build  a  new  Scow  on  Town's 
charge,  provided  yt  ye  mill  men,  Cheapside  or  Green 

*  In  the  act  granting  the  Township  of  Deerfield  in  1673, 
a  condition  vv^as  that  they  should  lay  out  a  farm  of  250 
acres  for  the  "  country's  use."  What  now  is,  and  from 
early  times  has  been,  called  country  farms,  m  the  N.  W. 
part  of  the  town,  formed  a  part  of  it,  and  the  road  to  it 
turned  in  at  the  gate  beyond  the  house  of  Thos.  Nims, 
Esq.  What  was  first  called  the  Country  farms  was  a 
tract  of  land  running  east  and  west  across  the  town, 
bounding  north  on  Bernardston  and  Leyden  j  Captain. 
Larabee  now  owns  part  of  it. 
3* 


26  HISTORY    OF 

River  men  will  take  care  of  it  to  prevent  its  going  away, 
and  if  it  be  lost  thorrow  their  carelessness,  they  to  bear 
the  loss  of  it ;  said  scow  to  be  delivered  to  theiji  with 
sufficient  chain  or  seizure  to  seize  it  withal."  The  ford 
or  ferry  then  used  was  about  three  fourths  of  a  mile  west 
of  D.  R.  bridge,  as  the  river  now  runs.  It  was  also 
agreed  that  all  lands  then  laid  out,  and  all  suitable  for  im- 
provement be  brought  into  common  field  and  fenced  ;- 
"  and  as  every  one's  property  cannot  be  known,  that  part 
of  said  fence  above  mill  brook  be  done-  at  public  charge." 
Committee,  Eben.  Smead,  Eben  Brooks,  M.  Hinsdill, 
chosen  to  sell  for  £  50  to  Jos.  Atherton,  tract  or  tracts 
of  land  to  that  value.  Committee  also  chosen  to  see 
survey  made,  and  take  a  plat  of  such  lands  there  suitable 
to  be  laid  out. 

1722.  On  the  records  of  this  year  is  to  be  found 
"  tlie  proposal  of  the  committee  (171S)  for  stating  and 
recording  the  lands  on  Grefen  River  granted  to  sundry 
persons."  Twelve  of  these  lots  were  128  rods  in  length 
each,  varying  from  12  1-2  to  25  rods  wide,  from  10  to 
20  aci-es  each  lot.  Ten  abutted  on  the  west  line  of  the 
town,  two  on  Green  River,  east.  Thirteen  other  lots, 
SO  to  100  rods  long,  16  to  50  wide,  10  to  30  acres- 
East  on  Green  River.  16  Grantees.  This  was  the  up- 
per division,  part  of  the  contents  of  the  seven  miles 
square,  extending  east  12  rods. 

'  Indiax\s. — 1724.  On  the  25th  Aug.  a  number  of  men 
passing  a  little  south  of  where  the  Court  House  now 
stands,  discovered  a  number  of  Indians  posted  on  a  ris- 
ing ground  near  by,  apparently  about  opening  a  fire  upon 
them.  They,  however,  gave  the  Indians  a  shot  and  re- 
treated to  the  mill  near  by,  but  one  of  their  number. 
Deacon  Samuel  Field,  was  severely  wounded.  Some 
of  his  descendants  are  still  in  Deerfield,  and  have  always 
maintained  a  highly  respectable  character.  The  late 
Samuel  Field,  Esq.  was  one  of  the  earliest  practitioners 


GREENFIELD.  27 

of  ihe  law  in  this  vicinity,  a  single  minded,  talented  man. 
His  writings  attracted  much  attention  by  their  wit  and 
humor. 

1727.  A  committee  was  chosen  to  "  advise  wilh 
men  of  skill  concerning  a  bridge  over  D.  River  at 
Cheapside."  It  was  afterwards,  in  Dec.  voted  to  build 
one  at  the  first  turn  in  the  river.  This  vote  was  nega- 
tived in  1728,  and  a  "  scow  and  2  canoes"  with  anchors, 
substituted. 

1730.  Decided  by  vote,  that  men  and  their  wives  be 
seated  together  in  the  meeting  house,  and  "  to  leave  it 
with  the  seators  to  dignify  the  pews  and  seats."  1735. 
Bounty  on  skunks  6d,  old  crows  2s. 

1738-9.  Jan.  15,  The  inhabitants  of  Green  River 
petitioned  the  town  (Deerfield)  to  be  set  off  as  a  separ- 
ate Parish*-  which  was  refused.  The  population  must 
then  have  been  quite  small,  since  in  1763,  they  number- 
ed only  368,  but  their  local  situation  was  such  in  rela- 
tion to  the  place  of  meeting  as  to  render  the  granting  of 
this  request  not  only  desirable  but  reasonable. 

1743.  The  request  was  again  renewed,  as  we  find 
by  the  following  vote  on  the  records  of  Deerfield.  JVov. 
15.  "  Upon  hearing  the  request  of  Green  River  inhabi- 
tants, &c.  &c.  the  matter  being  fully  debated,  the  ques- 
tion was  put  whether  the  town  of  Deerfield  will  set  off 
said  inhabitants  as  a  town  wiih  the  following  bounds  :  — 
viz.  North  by  the  north  bounds  of  the  town — East  by 
Conn.  River — South  by  the  8000  acre  line,  so  called, 
and  a  line  west  by  the  needle  from  the  N.  W.  corner  of 
said  8000  acres,  so  far  as  to  the  west  side  of  the  7  miles 
square,  and  west  by  the  west  additional  grant  made  to  the 
town,  and  it  passed  in  the  affirmative." 

Note. — Colrain  was  settled  about  1740,  by  emigrants 
from  Londonderry,  N.  H.,  perhaps  part  of  the  100  fam- 
ilies who  had  come  there  from  the  Province  of  Ulster, 
in  Ireland,  in  1719.  They  first  introduced  the  foot  spin- 
ning wheel  and  the  culture  of  potatoes. 


28  HISTORY    OF 

The  petitioners  asked  that  D.  River  should  be  the 
southern  boundary,  to  extend  up  said  river  to  Sheldon's 
brook  ;  West  by  needle  to  the  W.  line  of  7  miles  square. 
Negatived.  A  vote  also  passed  this  year  allowing  Green 
River  40s  old  tenor,  a  Sabbath,  to  procure  preaching 
there  three  months.  There  seems  to  have  been,  from 
causes  unknown  to  us,no  proceedings  had  in  consequence 
of  the  vote  to  set  off' this  town  until  ten  years  after,  when 
the  records  of  Greenfield  iirst  commenced  and  the  town 
was  incorporated.  Perhaps  the  delay  was  occasioned  by 
the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  which  occurred  soon  after. 

Indian  Warfare. — In  the  year  1744,  the  war  be- 
'  tween  Eng.  and  France  again  commencing,  the  country 
was  subjected  anew  to  all  the  horrors  of  an  Indian  war. 
With  their  mode  of  warfare  which  was  altogether  pecu- 
liar to  themselves,  although  those-horrors  which  always 
attended  it,  were  undoubtedly  heightened  by  their  con- 
nection with  the  French,  every  school  boy  is  familiar, 
and  it  is  unnecessary  to  describe  or  detail  ihem  here. — 
It  does  not  appear  from  any  record  or  tradition  which  has 
come  within  my  research,  that  the  inhabitants  within  our 
territory  were  in  very  many  instances  subjected  to  their 
inroads  more  than  many  or  all  the  settlements,  or  that  it 
was  the  theatre  of  many  regular  fights ;  yet  for  many 
years,  the  few  residing  here,  went  into  the  fields  with  a 
gun  in  one  hand  and  the  implements  of  husbandry  in 
the  other. 

The  females  left  at  home  in  the  forts,  of  which  there 
were  several,  had  loaded  fire  arms  ready,  and  ready 
hands  to  use  them  in  defence  of  themselves  and  their 
children,  and  kept  a  constant  look  out,  "  all  eye,  all  ear," 
in  constant  expectation  of  the  foe.  It  is  also  said  that 
they  practiced  firing  at  a  mark  to  render  themselves  ex- 
pert in  the  use  of  arms.  The  present  generation  of 
females,  whose  hands  seldom  touch  any  thing  more 
alarming  than  the  needle  or  the  keys  of  a  piano,  and 


GREENFIELD.  29 

faint  at  the  smell  of  gun  powder,  and  are  of  the  "  don't 
meddle  with  the  gun  Billy"  species,  would  be  ill  suited 
for  such  times  as  tried  the  resolution  and  fortitude  of 
the  dames  of  yore. 

It  appears  by  the  records  of  Dedham,  and  otherwise, 
that  the  Indian  titles  to  the  lands  here  were  extinguished 
by  purchase,  and  also  that  the  settlers  received  grants  of 
them  from  the  General  Court ;  but  the  natives  reserved 
the  right  of  fishing  and  hunting,  and  gathering  nuts 
on  the  commons. 

Rations. — The  rations  allowed  troops  on  the  fron- 
tiers at  this  period,  were — Garrison  forces,  1  lb.  bread 
per  day,  half  pint  peas  or  beans,  2  lbs.  pork  for  three 
days,  1  gallon  molasses  for  forty-two  days.  To  march- 
ing forces,  1  lb.  bread,  1  do.  pork,  1  gill  rum  per  day. 

Forts. — There  was  a  fort  at  Adams ;  one  on  the 
highlands,  now  Rowe,  called  fort  Pelham  ;  at  Heath, 
called  Shirley.  Several  houses  were  stockaded  at  Col- 
rain,  Bernardston,  Northfield,  Dummerston,  and  in  this 
town.  For  years  previous  to  the  Fall  fight,  scouting 
parties  kept  ranging  from  fort  Dummer,  to  Adams,  on 
the  look-out  for  Indians,  and  to  discover  their  trails,  and 
companies  of  large  dogs  were  employed  in  this  service, 
and  the  Indians  could  not  well  pass  these  lines  without 
discovery. 

Lt.  Oliver  Atherton,  who  died  in  this  town  not  many 
years  ago,  used  to  relate  a  thrilling  incident  which  oc- 
curred to  him  about  this  period.  He  was  required  to 
go  on  express  to  Colrain  fort.  He  was  mounled  on  a 
spirited  mare,  and  passing  just  beyond  where  Col.  Sam- 
No  te. — There  was  a  fort  where  the  High  School  for 
You'ng  Ladies  now  is  ;  one  where  F.  Ripley,  Esq.  has  re- 
cently built  a  stone  House  ;  one  near  the  house  of  the 
late  Judge  Leavitt  ;  one  nearly  opposite  the  house  of 
lute  Col.  S.  Wells,  with  a  subterranean  passage  coming 
out  at  the  brow  of  the  hill,  north. 


80  HISTORY   OF 

uel  Wells  last  lived  ;  a  little  farther  on  was  the  meadow 
gate,  there  being  no  open  road  ;  the  road  sides  were 
covered  with  trees  and  bushes.  The  mare  suddenly 
snorted  and  otherwise  gave  such  signs  of  fear  as  satisfi- 
ed him  she  scented  an  Indian,  and  he  gave  himself  up 
for  lost,  when  he  thought  of  the  hindrance  of  the  meadow 
gate.  The  faithful  and  sagacious  animal  did  not  fail  her 
master  in  this  his  hour  of  utmost  need.  She  darted  for- 
ward with  the  rapidity  of  lightning,  and  so  thrust  her  nose 
between  the  gate  and  post,  as  to  remove  the  fastening, 
and  passed  directly  on  her  way  through  the  river  without 
delay  or  slackening  her  pace,  and  he  was  not  forward  to 
check  her  onward  career.  It  is  most  likely  she  receiv- 
ed many  encomiums  on  her  arrival  at  the  fort,  and  good 
horse  meat  and  stabling,  and  still  more  likely  that  Ather- 
ton  did  not  return  alone,  although  a  resolute  and  brave 
man.  He  often  related  the  incident,  and  in  his  latter 
days  the  relating  it  affected  him  to  tears. 

A  brief  account  of  the  fall  fight  in  1676,  previous  to 
any  settlements  being  made  here,  and  within  the  limits 
of  what  was  afterwards  Greenfield,  now  Gill,  may  be 
found  under  the  title,  Falls. 

Nov.  1744.  A  vote  was  passed  allowing  "  £30  old 
tenor,  each  year  to  Green  River,  £29  of  which  is  paid 
for  preaching  already,  and  £12,  more  of  said  sum  may 
be  employed  for  preaching,  if  Green  River  people  think 
it  will  be  best,  or  otherwise  the  whole  that  is  unpaid 
may  be  employed  for  keeping  a  school  there.*" 

They  also  voted  to  raise  no  more  money  for  the  gar- 
risons than  what  had  been  already  raised  ;  chose  a  com- 
mittee, Mr.  Ashley  and  Dea.  Childs,  to  go  to  Hadley, 
Northampton,  and  Hatfield,  and  state  to  the  Represen- 
tatives of  those  towns  the  burthens  under  which  the  peo- 
ple of  this  town  labor  and  desire  them  to  use  their  influ- 

*  The  first  J  and  for  many  years,  the  only  School  House 
in  town,  it  is  believed,  was  at  the  lower  end  of  the  main 
street,  where  Mr.  Lamb  lives. 


GREENFIELD.  31 

ence  with  the  General  Court  to  have  their  taxes  alleviat- 
ed, and  further  to  exert  their  influence  to  have  the  Court 
allow  them  for  the  charge  the  town  has  been  at  in  build- 
ing the  forts  and  erecting  the  garrisons  for  their  own  de- 
fence as  well  as  that  of  their  neighbors  ;  also  that  the 
town  may  have  some  soldiers  sent  to  protect  them  from 
the  enemy  who  are  expected  here  from  Crown  Point 
before  Spring. 

The  Government  of  Massachusetts  took  measures  for 
the  defence  of  the  people  against  the  incursions  of  the 
French  and  Indians  ;  600  men  were  impressed,  of  which 
number,  300  were  for  the  eastern  frontier,  and  200  for 
the  western.*  The  ordinary  garrisons  were  reinforced, 
and  96  bbls.  gun  powder  were  sent  to  each  town  to  be 
sold  to  them  at  cost  and  charges.  In  the  spring  the 
King's  gift  to  Castle  William,  of  20  cannon  of  42  lb. 
ball ;  2  mortars  of  13  inches,  and  all  stores,  gun  pow- 
der exce])ted,  opportunely  arrived  at  Boston,  and  the 
Legislature  voted  to  build  a  range  of  forts  between  Con- 
necticut River  and  N.  Y.  boundary  line.  Maine  then 
contained  2485  militia.  The  forts  were  to  be  built  at 
Colrain,  Shirley,  Pelham  and  Adams. 

In  Dec.  1795,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  see  what 
was  proper  to  be  done  about  fortifying  Green  River.  On 
making  their  Report  they  were  "  directed  to  line  the  fort 
there  on  the  east  side,  and  so  far  on  the  north  side  'till 
the  house  will  defend  it,  and  so  at  each  side  of  the  south 
gate,  and  also  at  each  side  of  the  well,  to  be  lined  with 
stockades,  to  be  paid  by  the  town  if  nothing  should  be 
granted  by  the  province  for  forting,  nor  any  alteration  of 
the  grant  already  made  for  fortifying."  They  subsequent- 
ly received  their  pay  from  the  Town  Treasury.  The  same 
month  a  committee  was  chosen  to  petition  the  General 
Court,  humbly  and  earnestly  asking  relief  in  their  dis- 
tressed circumstances  with  respect  to  the  war  ;  to  take 

*  Holmes  Am.  Annals. 


32  HISTORY   OP 

it  into  their  wise  and  compassionate  consideration,  &c. 
&c.;  to  grant  such  protection  as  to  enable  them  to  defend 
themselves  and  famiHes,  and  to  carry  on  husbandry  with 
some  degree  of  safely. 

In  May,  1747,  a  petition  was  sent  to  the  General 
Court  asking  for  abatement  of  taxes  in  all  or  part,  inas- 
much as  they  "  labored  under  great  difficulties  on  ac- 
count of  the  war,  many  of  the  inhabitants  being  thus 
drawn  off,  great  quantities  of  iraproveableland  being  thus 
thrown  up,  and  little  profit  arising  from  the  rest  from  the 
cost  of  improving  it. 

Schools. — In  Nov.  1749,  the  sum  of  30s  old  tenor, 
was  granted  per  week  to  the  school  dames,  at  Green 
River,  for  their  services  the  past  summer.  Twenty  shil- 
lings, old  tenor,  was  allowed  for  a  day's  work  in  summer, 
and  fourteen  for  spring  and  fall  work,  so  great  was  the 
depreciation  of  the  currency.  In  consequence  of  this  de- 
preciation, the  salary  of  Mr.  Ashley,  which  in  1747,  had 
been  raised  from  £130  to  £450,  was  in  1748,  raised  to 
£800.  The  next  year  school  money  was  ajiowed  Green 
River  two  months,  besides  three  months  for-winter. 

Jan.  3,  1753.  In  answer  to  the  petition  of  Green 
River  people,  this  day  presented  to  the  town,  requesting 
that  they  might  be  set  off  into  a  separate  district  or  pre- 
cinct by  such  metes  and  bounds  as  may  be  thought  pro- 
per for  them  and  us,  &c. 

The  town  voted  that  they  are  willing  and  do  consent 
that  they  should  be  set  off  into  a  separate  district  or  pre- 
cinct, provided  their  bounds  and  limits  be  a?  follows  : 
viz.  to  begin  at  the  north  east  corner  of  the  township  on 
Connecticut  river,  and  to  proceed  southerly  on  said  riv- 
er until  they  come  to  the  line  of  the  8000  acres,  and  then 
proceed  westward  on  said  line  to  the  west  end  of  the 
first  tier  of  lots  west  of  the  seven  mile  line,  and  from 
thence  to  proceed  northerly,  taking  in  said  line  to  the  end 
of  our  bounds,  and  then  to  go  east  on  the  town  line  until 


GREENFIELD.  33. 

they  come  to  the  first  mentioned  boundary  on  Connecti- 
cut river. 

Committee  to  settle  south  line,  &c. — On  the 
2d  day  of  April,  1763,  at  a  town  meeting  held  at  Deer- 
field  it  was  voted  : 

Xhat  Col.  Oliver  Patridge,  Dr.  Samuel  Mather,  and 
Dr.  Eben  Hnn(,  be  desired  to  consider  and  determine 
where  the  dividing  line  shall  be  between  the  town  and 
the  proposed  district  on  the  north  side  of  Deerfield  river, 
and  also  to  consider  and  determine  where  the  Meeting 
House  shall  be  placed  in  said  district,  and  also  to  con- 
sider and  determine  whether  the  allotted  and  divided  lands 
in  said  lands  shall  be  subjected  to  a  tax  towards  building 
a  Meeting  House  and  settling  a  minister,  and  if  they 
think  it  proper  it  should  be  taxed,  then  what  tax  it  shall 
pay  per  acre  per  annum,  and  for  how  many  years,  and 
also  to  determine  whjit  part  of  the  public  tax  they  shall 
have  laid  on  them,  and  also  what  part  of  the  sequestered 
land  they  shall  be  entitled  to,  and  for  what  term  ;  in  all 
these  things  to  act  and  determine  as  if  there  had  been 
no  votes  of  the  town  previous  to  this  with  regard  to  said 
land  or  district  with  respect  to  the  boundaries. 

It  was  also  voted  that  said  committee  shall  be  paid  for 
their  trouble  by  the  town,  if  the  committee  shall  bring 
their  south  line  further  south  than  the  town  have  voted 
it  already,  and  if  they  do  not,  then  the  inhabitants  of 
Green  River  to  pay  them. 

Aaron  Denio,  was  then  chosen,  or  rather  a  vote  was 
passed  that  he  be  requested  to  notify  the  gentlemen  of 
their  being  chosen,  and  "  get  them  to  do  the  business 
they  are  chosen  for,"  and  Messrs.  Elijah  Williams, 
Aaron  Denio,  Capt.  John  Catlin,  Eben.  Wells,  2d  were 

Note. — In  1752,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  look 
out  and  make  a  road  to  Charlemont  and  to  Huntstown, 
(Ashfield,)  and  to  clear  the  road  from  logs  and  bushes  fit 
for  a  riding  road. 


34  HISTORt   OF 

chosen  a  committe©  "  in  behalf  of  the  town  to  wait  on 
the  committee  before  chosen  and  let  them  know  what  is 
expected  they  will  take  into  consideration,  and  to  ac- 
quaint them  with  the  lands  as  far  as  they  are  able." 

Report  of  the  Committee. — April  18,  1753.  In 
compliance  with  the  above  instructions  we  met  at  the 
town  of  Deerfield  upon  the  9tb  day  of  said  April,  and  on 
the  next  day  we  proceeded  to  view  the  lands  proposed 
for  a  district,  being  attended  by  a  committee  of  said 
town,  two  whereof  belonged  to  the  old  town,  and  two  to 
the  proposed  district.  After  we  had  made  a  thorough 
view  of  the  lands  by  passing  through  the  same  in  various 
places,  we  heard  the  allegations  of  the  committee  on  both 
sides  upon  the  articles  above  mentioned,  and  having  ma- 
turely considered  the  same,  do  adjudge  and  determine  it 
to  bo  reasonable  that  the  said  district  be  set  off  in  the 
manner  following  :  viz. 

That  a  line  be  run  as  far  north  as  a  line  known  by  the 
name  of  the  8000  acre  line,  to  run  from  Connecticut 
river  West  to  the  west  end  of  the  first  tier  of  lots  which 
lie  west  of  the  seven  mile  line,  so  called,  thence  north, 
nineteen  degrees  east,  to  the  northerly  side  of  the  town 
bounds,  thence  east  on  the  town  line  to  Connecticut  riv- 
er ,thence  as  said  river  runs  to  the  first  bounds.  We 
further  judge  it  reasonable  that  the  lands  lying  in  a  cer- 
tain meadow  or  interval  which  lies  north  of  Deerfield 
river,  known  by  the  name  of  Cheapside,  which  belongs 
to  Timothy  Childs,  Jr.  and  David  Wells,  who  dwell  in 
said  proposed  district,  should  pay  taxes  to  said  district 
when  set  off.  We  are  further  of  opinion,  that  a  tax  of 
one  penny  farthing  per  acre,  lawful  money  be  levied  up- 
on the  unimproved  lands  in  said  district,  as  soon  as  a 
frame  of  a  meeting  house  be  erected,  and  a  further  tax 
of  one  penny  per  acre  upon  said  unimproved  lands  so 
soon  as  a  minister  is  settled  in  said  district,  to  be  em- 
ployed for  building  a  meeting  house  and  settling  a  min- 
ister. 


GREENFIELD.  35 

We  have  also  fixed  the  place  for  erecting  a  meeting 
house  at  a  place  called  Trap  plain,*  where  we  have  fixed 
a  white  oak  stake.  We  further  judge  it  reasonable  that 
the  same  proposition  of  the  county  tax  laid  on  the  town 
of  Deerfield,  hereafter  be  paid  bj  the  said  district  when 
set  off  as  was  levied  upon  the  inhabitants  and  rateable 
estates  in  the  limits  of  said  district  for  the  last  tax,  and 
that  the  said  district  have  the  improvement  of  one  half 
of  ihe  sequestered  lands  in  said  town  of  Deerfield  lying 
north  of  Deerfield  river. 

Oliver  Partridge, 
Samuel  Mather, 
Eben'r  Hunt. 
Deerfield,  April  12,  1753. 

At  a  town  meeting  held  at  Deerfield  in  December  fol- 
lowing, a  committee  was  appointed  to  divide  the  se- 
questered land  or  the  income  of  it,  north  of  Deerfield 
river,  with  the  minister  and  people  of  Greenfield,  or  to 
do  what  shall  be  necessary  in  order  to  accomplish  and 
settle  the  improvement  of  the  said  sequestered  land. 

In  Feb.  1754,  at  a  town  meeting,  the  town  of  Deer- 
field *'  voted  that  the  town  do  give  and  grant  to  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Greenfield  the  same  proportionable  part  of  the 
rents  of  the  town  land  on  the  north  side  of  Deerfield 
river,  as  they  of  the  said  district  pay  to  the  Province  tax 
in  consideration  of  the  charge  they  are  at  for  preaching, 
provided  the  said  district  will  accept  of  the  same,  and 
that  they  do  by  their  vote,  at  a  meeting  called  for  the 
purpose,  give  the  town  of  Deerfield  a  discharge  from  all 
demands  that  they  have  in,  and  to  the  said  rents  for  the 
year  past,  which  the  town  votes  as  a  free  gift  and  not 
any  thing  they  are  by  law  enjoined  to." 

*  Where  - — ^^  Flag^j  Esq.  and  L.  H.  Long  reside. 


36  HISTORY   OF 


CHAPTER  III. 


Record  of  first  Meeting. — Annals  of  the  Town. — Seques- 
tered Lands. — Difficulties  with  the  Mother  Toion. 

1763.  The  act  incorporating  the  Green  river  people 
into  a  town  is  not  found  upon  the  records  of  this  year. — 
The  first  record  is  that  of  a  warrant  for  a  meeting  of  the 
inhabitants  and  the  proceedings  under  it,  which  are  in- 
serted to  show  who  were  the  prominent  men  of  that  day, 
and  as  a  curiosity,  in  one  respect  at  least.  This  town 
then  included  the  present  town  of  Gill.  We  have  no 
means  of  determining  the  population  accurately,  but  as  at 
a  period  some  years  subsequent,  it  was  only  three  hun- 
dred and  sixty-eight,  we  may  presume  it  not  to  have 
much  exceeded  three  hundred  and  twenty-five,  if  so 
much. 

"  Hampshire  ss.  To  Ensign  Ebenezer  Smead,  of  the 
district  of  Greenfield  in  the  County  of  Hampshire,  Greet- 
ing. You  are  hereby  required  in  his  Majesties  name,  to 
warn  all  the  freeholders  and  other  inhabitants  of  said 
district  qualified  by  lav/  to  vote  the  choice  of  district  of- 
ficers to  meet  to  gather  att  the  house  of  James  Corse  in 
said  district,  on  Tuesday  the  third  day  of  July  next,  at 
one  of  the  clock  in  the  afternoon,  then  and  there,  after  a 
moderator  is  chosen,  to  choose  all  such  officers  as  by  law 
are  to  be  chosen  for  the  managing  the  affairs  of  sd  dis- 
trict, also,  to  doo  what  shall  be  thoat  Nessessary  to  be 
done  in  order  to  provide  preaching  in  sd  district.  Here- 
of fail  not  and  make  return  of  this  warrant  att  the  time 
and  place  aforesd.  Given  under  my  hand  and  seal  att 
Deerfield  this  twenty  six  day  of  June  1753  Elijah  Will- 
iams who  am  by  law  authorisd  to  Grant  this  warrant." 

"Att  a  Legal  Town  or  District  meeting  held  Greenfield 
July  third  1753 


gMeNfielU.  3ir 

i.  Benjamin  Hastings  was  chosen  Moderator,  voted 
that 

2.  Benjamin  Hasting  should  be  Town  Clark. 

3.  Voted  Missrs  Ebenezer  Smead  Samuel  Hinsdell 
and  Daniel  Nash  to  be  Selectmen  and  Assessors. 

4.  Voted  that  Eben.  Arms  should  be  Town  Treas- 
urer. 

5.  Benjamin  Hastings  should  be  Cunstable. 

6.  Missrs  Nalhanill  Brooks  and  Shubael  Atherton  to 
be  tithing  men. 

7.  Missrs  James  Corse  Jona.  Smead  and  Ebenezer 
Wells  to  be  Fence  viewers. 

8.  Voted  Messrs  Amos  Allen  and  Ebenezer  Wells  to 
be  Surveyors  of  the  Highways. 

9.  Mr.  Aaron  Denio  should  be  dearreaf.* 

10.  James  Corse  and  Amos  Allin  should  be  hogreafs. 

11.  Joshua  Wells  should  be  sealer  of  weights  and 
measures. 

12.  Benjamin  Hastings  should  be  sealer  of  Leather. 

13.  Messrs  Thomas  Nims|  and  Gad  Corse  should 
be  Field  Drivers. 

14.  Daniel  Graves  Daniel  Nash  and  Aaron  Denio  be 

Note, — The  people  were  notified  of  the  hours  of  meet- 
ing on  the  Sabbath,  and  other  days,  by  the  beating  of  the 
drum,  for  which  one  year  £4.  10s  was  paid,  (old  tenor) 
— in  1756,  4s  only.  James  Corss,  lived  first  where  C.  J. 
J.  Ingersoll  lives,  in  a  log  house  or  fort — after  where 
Maj.  J.  Smead  lives. 

*  Deer-reeve.  The  hunting  of  Deer  is  still  regulated 
by  a  law  passed  in  1807.  Penalty  for  killing  between 
1st  Jan  and  1st  Aug.  $14.  Same  for  killing  deer  at  any 
time  in  Barnstable  County. 

t  Ancestor  of  Lt.  Hull  Nims  of  this  town,  of  the  fam- 
ily of  Godfrey  NimSj  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  Deerfield. 
The  place  he  first  occupied  is  still  owned  by  his  descend- 
ants— the  heirs  of  late  Dea.  Seth  Nims. 

4* 


38  HistORV  OF 

a  committee  to  supply  us  with  preaching  for  the  present 
year."     Such  is  the  record  of  the  first  meeting. 

Minister. — At  a  subsequent  meeting,  the  16th  day 
of  August  was  set  apart  as  a  day  of  prayer  and  fasting. 
Mr.  Ashley  of  Deerfield,  Mr.  Ashley  of  Sunderland,  Mr. 
Abercrombie  of  Pelham,  clergymen,  were  "  invited  to 
assist  in  the  work  of  the  day  and  give  their  advice  for 
some  meet  person  to  settle  in  the  work  of  the  ministry." 
At  another  meeting,  the  same  month,  a  commtttee  was 
chosen  to  "  take  the  advice  or  approbation"  of  a  number 
of  ministers — viz.  Mr.  Edwards  of  Stockbridge,  Hop- 
kins of  Sheffield,  WiUiams  of  Long  Meadow,  Hall  of 
Sutton,  Ashley  of  D.,  Ashley  of  S.,  Abercrombie  of 
Pelham,  ^'  with  respect  to  the  Quallifications  or  fitness  of 
Mr.  Edward  Billings  for  the  work  of  the  ministry  in 
Greenfield." 

CxiLL. — Sept.  24,  following,  the  town  voted  to  give 
him  a  call.  Daniel  Nash  and  Timothy  Childs*  were 
"■  the  committee  to  acquaint  him  of  it."    Call  accepted. 

Wages.  Schools. — The  wages  "  of  persons  that 
have  done  service  for  this  district"  were  fixed  at  two 
abiilings  for  summer,  per  day,  and  one  shilling  and  four 
pence  tor  the  fall.  A  committee  was  chosen  to  provide 
the  district  with  a  school  and  school  house.  As  in  near- 
ly all  the  towns  of  N.  England,  so  in  this,  immediately 
after  a  settlement  commenced,  the  inhabitants  turned 
their  thoughts  and  care  to  the  providing  for  the  preach- 
ing of  the  Gospel  and  the  establishment  of  schools. — 
Their  particular  and  anxious  attention  and  care  on  these 
subjects  formed  a'distinguishing  trait  in  their  character. 

1764.  Three  houses  were  picquetted  at  the  expense 
of  the  town,  viz.  Joshua  Wells,'  James  Corss,'  and  Shu- 
baei  Atherton's,  for  a  protection  against  the  incursions 
of  tiie  Indians. 

*  Capt.  Childs  lived  where  Dea.  T.  Stoughton  now 
lives  ici  Gill  J  just  above  the  Falls, 


GREENFIELD  39 

1755.  Roads. — They  voted  to  repair  the  King's 
highways  and  none  else  ;  also  to  petition  the  General 
Court  for  some  relief,  and  a  meeting  was  ordered  to  be 
warned  to  choose  a  Representative.  Benj.  Hastings* 
and  Ebenezer  Smead  were  a  committee  to  carry  on  the 
petition.  It  does  not  appear  that  a  Representative  was 
chosen. 

1756.  Rev.  Mr.  Billings  leased  to  the  district  one 
half  of  the  sequestered  land  in  Deerfield,  lying  in  town 
swamp  west  meddow  and  point  Judah,  "  during  the  time 
of  his  ministry  for  £13.  6s  8d." 

Indians. — 1756.  In  the  early  part  of  this  year  War 
was  formally  declared  between  France  and  England, 
though  hostilities  had  existed  in  the  previous  year  by 
which  the  colonies  suffered  considerably.  The  war  be- 
tween them  and  the  natives  in  Now  England,  at  this  pe- 
riod, and  most  of  those,  with  the  exception  of  King  Phil- 
lips, were  occasioned  by  the  quarrels  between  France 
and  England.  On  the  occurrence  of  these,  the  French 
incited  the  Indians  to  commit  cruelties  and  depredations 
upon  the  colonists.  In  the  early  part  of  this  year  the 
Indians  hovered  about  these  frontier  settlements,  and  the 
people  petitioned  Government  for  aid.  Small  forces 
were  stationed  at  the  forts  at  Northfield,  Deerfield,  in 
this  town,  and  other  places,  as  well  as  on  the  line  of  forts. 
A  party  of  Indians  had  posted  themselves  on  the  hill 
near  the  Asher  Corss  farm,  now  owned  by  Mr.  Hart 
Larabee.  The  people  from  other  parts  of  the  town  im- 
proved lands  there,  and  at  this  time  a  stack  of  flax  was 
piled  and  stood  on  the  ground  near  a  field  of  grain.  They 
placed  their  guns  against  the  flax,  which  was  undoubted- 


*  Mr.  Hastings  owned  a  tract  of  land  running  nearly 
through  the  town  from  the  north  to  the  south.  His 
house  stood  on  the  rising  ground  a  little  west  of  Mr.  Ab- 
ner  Wells'  at  Stocking  Fort,  oii'land  now  of  Mr.  E.  W. 
Kingslcy.     A  giant  elm  lately  stood  near  the  spot. 


40  HISTORY   O^ 

]y  seen  by  the  Indians.  The  men  were  Benjamin  Has- 
tings, John  Graves,  Daniel  Graves,  Shubal  Atherton  and 
Nathaniel  Brooks.  The  Indians  skulked  in  this  field  of 
grain,  and  coming  near,  crawled  like  snakes,  as  was 
plainly  to  be  perceived  afterwards  by  the  impressions  left 
in  the  field,  and  got  between  them  and  their  guns  ;  they 
fled  on  the  instant  and  were  fired  upon  ;  but  the  fire  took 
no  effect.  Hastings  and  John  Graves  fled  across  the 
river,  to  what  is  called  Irish^plain,  where  Col.  Smead  and 
Capt.  Smead  now  live,  and  came  out  at  the  Arms  farm, 
where  Mr.  Thayer  now  lives.  Hastings  said  the  fern 
growing  there  was  as  high  as  his  waist,  but  he  went  over 
the  top  of  the  whole  of  it.  Few  of  our  modern  bucks,  tho' 
they  sometimes  drive  furiously,  as  did  Jehu  of  old, 
would  with  their  best  trotters,  have  performed  the  tour 
as  quick.  Atherton  concealed  himself  in  some  brush- 
wood under  the  river  bank,  or  in  a  hollow  place  near  it, 
but  the  Indians  were  so  hot  in  their  pursuit  that  he  did 
not  escape  their  notice  and  he  was  shot.  Daniel  Graves 
and  Brooks  were  taken.  Graves  was  old,  infirm  and 
ill  able  to  travel.  He  was  killed  soon  after  they  left  the 
spot  and  near  the  saw  mill,  at  a  short  distance  from  the 
Glen.  Brooks  never  returned.  The  people  of  this  vil- 
lage soon  rallied,  joined  by  Maj.  Williams  and  others 
from  Deerfield,  and  followed  in  pursuit  of  the  Indians, 
but  without  success. 

1757.  The  General  Court  was  petitioned  for  an 
abatement  of  taxes.  1759.  The  road  running  west 
from  the  Gill  road  to  Nash's  mill  was  laid  out. 

Meeting  House. — 1760.  The  people  began  to 
make  preparations  and  gather  materials  for  building  a 
meeeting  house,  50  by  40.  It  was  rough  boarded  only, 
and  so  remained  for  many  years,  and  was,  like  others  in 
the  couutry,  without  pews  or  slips. 

Ministry. — A  call  was  given  to  Mr.  Bulkley  Olcoti 
to  settle  in  the  ministry.     They  offered  him  as  salary. 


GREENFIELD.  41 

the  first  year,  £66.  13s.  4d.  to  rise  £l.  6s.  Sd.  jearly, 
till  the  sum  amount  to  £80.  The  call  was  not  accepted. 
1761.  In  August  a  call  was  given  to  Mr.  Roger 
Newton  and  accepted.  A  particular  account  of  this  part 
of  our  history  will  be  found  under  title — Ecclesiastical. 

Roads. — In  1763,  a  road  was  laid  from  the  west  end 
of  the  village  to  the  Country  Farm,  and  voted  to  do  ten 
days  work  on  it;  also  on  the  road  from  the  meeting 
house,  north. 

JDeerfield,  Feb,  22,  1758. 

Town  Lands. — "Then  the  Selectmen  of  Deerfield 
and  Greenfield  met  and  jointly  agreed  upon  a  division  of 
the  town  land  so  called,  which  is  as  follows — viz.  that 
the  west  meddow,  Judahs  point  and  the  following  land 
on  Fort  Hill  belongs  to  Deerfield  town  the  present  year, 
and  the  rest  to  the  district  of  Greenfield  and  to  exchange 
yearly  until  a  further  agreement ;  also  that  the  plowing 
land  belonging  to  the  town  swamp  be  sowed  with  Dutch 
clover,  and  the  peace  by  the  river  in  the  west  meddow 
this  year." 

Joseph  Stebins,  i  |' Jonathan  Severance 

Daniel  Nash,      \  Selectmen.  <  John  Arms, 
Daniel  Arms,     j  (  Samuel  Wells, 

Schools. — 1763.  A  vote  was  passed  to  "  hire  a 
school  the  year  round."  lo  1764,  £  13.  6s.  was  raised 
for  schools  to  be  divided  upon  the  scholar.  There 
were  only  three  districts,  one  in  the  village,  at  the  old 
meeting  house,  and  at  or  near  Nash's  mills.  In  1767, 
the  town  was  divided  into  seven  districts  for  schools. — 
"  One  in  the  street,  three  in  the  meadows,  one  by  Noah 
AUins,  one  in  N.  E.  corner,  one  at  Ensign  Childs',  (at 
the  Falls,)  and  but  one  school  master,  and  he  to  move  to 
each  district  according  to  ye  proportion,  and  to  have  a 
school  dame  the  other  six  months,  and  she  to  keep  school 
in  ye  several  districts  according  to  their  proportion.    All 


42  HISTORY    OF 

the  masters  and  dames  that  are  improved  to  be  approved 
by  the  Selectmen."  £20,  raised  for  schools,  and  the 
meeting  house  was  glazed. 

Sequestered  Lands.  Difficulties  with  the 
Mother  Town. — 1768.  It  has  been  seen  that  the 
town  was  incorporated  in  1753,  but  the  report  of  the 
committee  and  the  act  of  incorporation  do  not  appear  up- 
on the  town  records  until  this  year,  about  sixteen  years 
after  it  was  parsed.  Disputes  and  contentions  arose 
respecting  the  sequestered  lands,  and  we  are  informed 
by  tradition,  that  an  affray  took  place  between  individu- 
als of  the  two  towns,  when  they  fought  with  their  rakes 
and  pitchforks,  on  the  lands,  for  the  possession  of  the 
crops.  The  following  vote,  found  on  the  records  of  the 
towns,  show  somewhat  relating  thereto. 

At  a  meeting  held  March  26 — S.  Hinsdale  Modera- 
tor— a  vote  was  passed,  "  to  take  best  advice  we  can  get 
with  respect  to  our  holding  or  keeping  the  sequestered 
lands  for  ye  use  of  the  ministry  in  Deerfield,  and  if  w© 
can  have  proper  Incoragement,  to  stand  a  tryal  in  the 
law  for  the  same."  S.  Hinsdale,  Amos  Allen,  Ebenezer 
Wells  were  chosen  a  committee  to  prosecute  the  affair 
according  to  their  best  skill  and  judgement.  David 
Wells  and  Jona.  Severance  were  added  to  the  com- 
mittee. 

Deerfield,  1768. 

Same  Subject. — March  28th,  as  appears  by  the  re- 
cords of  the  town  of  Deerfield,  a  committee  was  raised 
*'  to  make  application  in  behalf  of  the  town,  to  some 
gentleman  versed  in  the  law,  respecting  the  expediency 
of  the  town  making  an  attempt  in  the  law,  to  get  into 
the  town's  use  and  improvement  that  part  of  the  seques- 
tered lands  which  are  now,  and  have  been  for  a  number 
of  years  past,  improved  by  the  district  of  Greenfield,  and 
make  report  of  their  doings,"  &c. 

In  this  town,  May,  29,  1769,  a  committee  was  chosea 


GREENFIELD.  43 

(Benj.  Hastings,  Samuel  Hinsdale,  Aaron  Denio,  Amos 
Allen,  Eben.  Wells,  J.  Severance,  David  Wells,)  "  to 
prefer  a  petition  to  the  General  Court  to  make  a  new  act 
with  regard  to  our  being  set  off  from  ye  town  of  Deer- 
field  sd  act  to  be  made  agreeable  to  the  Report  of  the 
committee  that  was  mutually  chosen  by  the  Town  and  us 
for  that  purpose  sd  Report  being  accepted  by  the  Town 
and  district."  Eben  Wells,  Moderator. 

As  the  act  of  incorporation  and  the  conduct  of  the 
parties  in  relation  to  it,  was  made  for  a  long  time  the 
subject  of  violent  controversy  between  the  inhabitants  of 
the  different  territories,  the  effects  of  which  are  yet  hard- 
ly dissipated,  the  circumstances  by  which  it  was  preceded 
and  followed,  deserve  a  distinct  consideration.  Any 
professed  history  of  Greenfield,  which  should  omit  facts 
which  our  fathers  deemed  so  important  and  which  fur- 
nished them  so  long  with  materials  for  excitement  and 
complaint,  would  be  justly  chargeable  with  imperfection  ; 
and  however  unpleasant  portions  of  the  duty  may  be 
which  I  take  upon  myself,  1  cannot  honestly  escape  from 
its  full  performance.  Happily,  though  there  is  much  of 
tradition  connected  with  this  subject,  the  principal  facts 
are  engraved  upon  public  records,  which  leave  little  op- 
portunity for  mistake  or  coloring. 

Long  before  the  act  of  incorporation  it  became  obvi- 
ous that  the  interests  of  the  inhabitants  required  that  the 
northern  portion  of  the  old  town  of  Deerfield,  should  be 
for  the  purpose  of  municipal  government  separated  from 
the  remainder.  In  this,  all  concurred,  but  the  difficulty 
was,  as  to  where  the  line  should  be  established.  Both 
parties  contended  earnestly  for  "  Cheapside,"  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  northern  portion  maintaining  that  the  Deer- 
field  river  opposite  the  place,  was  the  natural  boundary, 
which  mutual  convenience  and  benefit  required  should 
be  recognized  as  the  line  of  separation,  while  on  the  oth- 
er side  it  wag  insisted  whh  equal  warmth,  and  no  doubt 


44  HISTORY    OF 

from  a  feeling  of  honorable  pride,  that  the  line  ought  to 
be  so  fixed  as  to  include  in  Deerfield  all  of  the  just 
grants  of  land  to  the  proprietors  of  Poeomtuck.  It  was 
found  impossible  to  settle  this  dispute  without  the  aid  of 
disinterested  arbitrators.  Accordingly,  at  a  legal  meet- 
ing of  the  inhabitants  of  Deerfield,  April  2,  1753,  it  was 
voted   that  Col.   Oliver   Partridge,    of  Hatfield,  Doct. 

Samuel  Mather  of and   Lieut.  Ebenezer  Hunt 

of  Northampton,  be  desired  "to  determine  where  the 
dividing  line  shall  be  between  the  town  and  the  propos- 
ed district,  on  the  north  side  of  Deerfield  river,  and  also 
to  consider  and  determine  various  other  subjects,  among 
which  was  "  also  that  part  of  the  sequestered  land 
they"  (the  new  district)  "  shall  be  entitled  to,  and  for 
what  term  ;"  and  a  committee  of  four,  of  whom  two  be- 
longed to  the  southern  portion  of  the  town — viz.  Elijah 
Williams  and  John  Catlin,  and  two  to  the  proposed  dis- 
trict— viz.  Aaron  Denio  and  Ebenezer  Wells,  were  ap- 
pointed to  wait  upon  the  Referees  on  the  examination. 
The  Referees,  who  were  men  of  high  character  and 
consequence,  went  upon  the  ground  the  10th  of  April,  at- 
tended by  the  committee,  and  having  lully  heard  the  par- 
ties, made  an  award,  by  which  the  town  of  Deerfield  en- 
gaged to  abide  in  the  division.  The  award  was  that  the 
line  should  be  as  insisted  upon  by  the  old  town,  but  with 
certain  conditions  and  provisions  in  favor  of  the  propos- 
ed district  by  ymy  of  compensation.  The  act  creating 
the  new  district  of  Greenfield,  was  passed  only  two 
months  afterwards,  and  follows,  almost  literally  the 
award,  excepting  as  to  these  provisions  in  favor  of 
the  district ;  which  are  so  altered  and  limited  in  the  act, 
contrary  to  the  agreement  of  the  parties,  as  to  destroy 
almost  entirely  their  purpose  and  effect. — These  provis- 
ions are  these-  -relating 

1st.  To  the  sequestered  lands. 

2d.  To  the  taxation  of  the  meadow  land  in  Cheap- 
side. 


GREENFIELD.  46 

The  Referees  decided  that  "  the  said  district  of  Green- 
field have  the  use  and  the  improvement  of  one  half  of 
the  sequestered  lands  in  the  said  town  of  Deerfield,  be- 
ing north  of  Deerfield  river,'*  and  this  forever,  for  there  is 
no  Hmitation  of  the  provision,  either  in  the  award  or  the 
acceptance  of  it  by  the  town  of  Deeriield. 

The  act,  on  the  contrary,  is  that  *'  the  said  district 
shall  have  the  improvement  of  one  half  of  the  sequester- 
ed lands  on  the  north  side  of  Deerfield  river  until  there 
shall  be  another  district  or  parish  made  out  of  the  said 
town  of  Deerfield" — thus  introducing,  contrary  to  the 
stipulations  of  the  parties,  a  limitation  to  this  enjoyment, 
not  authorised  by  the  award,' and  which  the  Referees  af- 
terwards testified  was  *'  entirely  contrary  to  their  intent 
and  meaning."* 

Again,  the  award  provided  that  "  the  lands  lying  in  a 
certain  meadow  or  interval  which  lies  north  of  Deer- 
field river,  which  is  known  by  the  name  of  Cheapside, 
which  belong  to  Timothy  Childs  and  David  Wells,  who 
dwell  in  the  said  proposed  district,  shall  pay  taxes  to  the 
said  district."  This  was  also  without  limitation,  and  the 
construction  of  the  award  of  course,  was,  as  was  also 
the  agreement  of  Deerfield  in  accepting  it,  that  these 
lands  should  be  so  taxed  forever.  But  this  stipulation 
was  also  violated  in  the  charter,  which  enacts  that  "  the 
lands  in  a  certain  interval  or  meadow  called  Cheapside, 
which  do  now  belong  to  Timothy  Childs,  Jr.  and  David 
Wells,  shall  pay  their  taxes   in  said  district,  so  long  as 

*  This  limitation  was  not  only  contrary  to  the  agree- 
ment of  the  parties,  but  clearly  inequitable  and  absurd. 
If  it  had  been  provided  that  on  the  incorporation  of  a 
new  district,  a  new  division  should  have  taken  place,  in 
which  the  new  district  should  share,  it  would  have  had  a 
semblance  of  justice,  but  the  construction  here  is  not  that 
when  a  new  district  should  be  incorporated  that  should 
have  its  share  with  Deerfield  and  Greenfield,  but  that 
then  Deerfield  should  reserve  the  whole. 
5 


46  BISTORT  OF 

they  are  owned  by  any  person  living  in  said  district." 
The  effect  of  this  limitation  of  the  second  right  of  the 
district,  also  introduced  into  the  charter  contrary  to  the 
agreement  founded  upon  the  award,  is  sufficiently  obvi- 
ous. If  Mr.  Childs  or  Mr.  Wells  should  move  down 
upon  their  own  farms  (which  comprised  the  principal 
part  of  the  meadow  at  Cheapside,  besides  the  sequester- 
ed lands)  or  if  these  farms  should  go  into  the  hands  of 
any  person  not  an  inhabitant  of  Greenfield,  tho'  but  for  an 
instant,  the  right  of  taxation  by  Greenfield  would  be 
lost  forever — for  if  once  lost,  it  could  not  be  resumed 
though  the  lands  should  again  belong  to  inhabitants  of 
Greenfield  ;  and  such  has  been  the  exact  practical  effect 
of  it,  and  it  is  to  be  remarked  as  showing  the  case  with 
which  the  limitation  was  introduced,  that  it  is  exactly  in 
the  words,  i.  e.  "  so  long  as,"  which  legal  writers  have 
recommended  as  having  the  effect,  and  which  have  re- 
ceived a  settled  judicial  interpretation. 

The  first  question  arose  as  to  the  sequestered  lands 
which  embraced  something  more  than  thirty  acres  of 
meadow,  worth  now  about  $5000.  It  would  seem  that  the 
inhabitants  of  the  district  of  Greenfield  were  not  aware 
of  the  variations  between  the  award  and  charter  till  1787. 
This  is  to  be  inferred  not  only  from  their  own  language 
so  often  repeated  after  that  time,  but  from  the  facts  ap- 
pearing upon  their  own  records.  Soon  after  the  passage 
of  the  act,  the  magistrate  of  Deerfield,  who  was  named  in 
it,  called  a  meeting  of  the  inhabitants,  the  full  record  of 
"which  is  preserved  upon  their  books.  They  organized 
by  the  choice  of  their  officers,  but  it  does  not  appear  that 
the  act  was  read  to  them — certainly  there  was  no  vote 
in  relation  to  it,  nor  does  the  record  contain  it  or  a  sin- 
gle allusion  to  its  provisions.  After  the  incorporation 
of  the  new  district  of  Conway,  it  was  brought  for  the 
first  time  to  the  notice  of  Greenfield  and  spread  upon  its 
book  of  records— and  then  follow  the  complaints  of 
wrong,  and  injury,  and  fraud,  which  no  one,  acquainted 


GREENFIELD.  47 

with  their  character,  can  doubt  would  have  been  heard 
earher,  if  the  facts  had  come  earlier  to  their  knowledge ; 
and  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  Greenfield  had  no  rep- 
resentative in  the  Legislature  till  after  the  Revolution, 
when  by  the  provisions  of  the  constitution  she  became 
entitled  to  the  rights  of  a  town.  Till  1767,  the  parties 
had  governed  themselves  by  the  award,  which  each  had 
upon  its  books,  as  the  rule  of  its  conduct.  They  had 
amically  divided  the  sequestered  lands,  each  improving 
its  half  and  maintained  all  its  provisions  as  to  taxation. 
But  in  this  year,  the  limitation  as  to  the  sequestered 
land  having  taken  effect  by  the  incorporation  of  the  new 
district  of  Conway,  Deerfield  demanded  the  relinquish- 
ment of  that  part  which  had  been  up  to  this  time  improv- 
ed by  Greenfield,  and  which  by  the  agreement  of  the 
parties  she  was  to  enjoy  forever.  This  demand  was  re- 
sisted on  the  part  of  Greenfield  to  the  last,  and  it  is  said 
that  the  contest  was  not  carried  on  in  words  only.  In 
the  summer  of  1768,  the  agents  of  Deerfield  took  pos- 
session of  the  land,  and  mowed  it,  and  each  party  went 
on  in  strong  force  to  take  away  the  hay,  and  an  encoun- 
ter took  place  between  them,  in  which,  it  is  said,  clubs 
and  pitchforks  were  freeiy  resorted  to.  The  Greenfield- 
ites  were  successful  in  carrying  off  the  greater  portion 
of  the  hay,  and  the  town  of  Deerfield  immediately  com- 
menced against  them  individually  several  actions  of  tres- 
pass quare  claiisiim,  for  entering  upon  the  land,  which 
were  defended  at  the  expense  of  the  district.  The  trial 
of  the  first  case  was  thoroughly  contested,  and  made  it 
most  manifest  that  the  legal  rights  were  as  clearly  one 
way,  as  the  equitables  were  the  other.  Greenfield  in- 
sisted upon  her  right  acquired  under  the  award,  and  the 
deliberate  agreement  of  the  other  party  to  fulfil  it,  but 
the  court  very  properly  decided  that  as  ministers  of  the 
law,  they  could  only  look  to  the  act  of  incorporation — 
that  it  was  a  public  and  not  a  private  law,  which  they  had 
110  power  to  overturn,  and  if  there  was  any  fraud  or  vio- 


4S  HISTORY   OF 

lation  of  previous  contract  between  the  parties  attending 
its  passage,  the  remedy  of  Greenfield  was  with  the  Leg- 
islature, not  with  the  Courts,  which  must  carry  out  the 
act  as  they  found  it.  All  the  suits  were  afterwards  com- 
promised by  the  payment  of  $40. 

During  the  pendency  of  these  suits,  Greenfield  had 
made  her  appeal  to  the  Legislature.  At  a  meeting  of 
the  district,  May  29,  1769.  Lieut.  Benj.  Hastings, 
Samuel  Hinsdale,  Aaron  Denio,  Amos  Alien,  Ebene- 
zer  Wells,  Jonathan  Severance  and  David  Smead,  were 
appointed  a  committee,  with  directions  **  to  prefer  a  pe- 
tition to  the  General  Court  to  make  a  new  act  with  re- 
gard to  our  being  set  off*  from  the  town  of  Deerfield — sd 
act  to  be  made  agreeable  to  the  report  of  the  committee, 
which  was  mutually  chosen  by  the  town  and  us  for  that 
purpose  ;  sd  report  being  accepted  by  the  town  and  dis- 
trict." 

The  committee  performed  their  duty.  They  drew 
up  a  petition,  in  which  the  variances  between  the  award 
and  the  charter  were  fully  and  ably  presented,  and  enter- 
ed the  same  on  the  27lh  day  of  March,  1770.  They 
afterwards  filed  with  the  petition,  by  leave,  the  following 
certificate  of  the  Referees. 

"  Whereas,  we  the  subscribers  were  appointed  by  the 
town  of  Deerfield,  in  the  year  1753,  to  consider  and  de- 
termine in  what  manner  the  district  of  Greenfield  should 
be  set  off*  from  the  town  of  Deerfield,  and  among  other 
things  to  determine  what  part  of  the  sequestered  lands  in 
Deerfield,  the  said  district,  when  set  off  should  be  enti- 
tled to  and  for  what  term  of  time,  which  article  we  took 
under  consideration  as  by  our  report  appears,  and  we  did 
determine  that  it  was  reasonable  that  the  said  district 
should  have  the  improvement  of  the  one  half  of  the  sd 
sequestered  lands  lying  north  of  Deerfield  river,  without 
limitation  of  any  time,  &c.,  and  now  being  desired  to 
signify  the  understanding  we  then  had  of  the  aflfair — we 
do  now  say,  that  it  was  our  design  and  intent  that  the  sd 


GREENFIELD.  49 

district  should  forever  thereafter  hold  and  improve  part 
of  the  sd  lands,  and  having  seen  the  act  of  incorpora- 
tion of  the  district  of  Greenfield  and  the  limitation  there- 
in made  with  respect  to  the  improvement  of  the  sd  se- 
questered lands,  which  we  freely  declare  is  entirely  con- 
trary to  what  was  our  intent  and  meaning. 

Oliver  Patridge, 
Samuel  Mather, 
Eeenezer  Hunt," 
December  29,  1770. 

It  will  be  recollected  that  the  Legislature  then  con- 
sisted of  the  Governor,  appointed  by  the  King  and  his 
council,  who  could  be  appointed  only  by  his  concurrence 
which  formed  one  branch  of  the  General  Court — and  the 
Representatives  of  the  people,  which  formed  the  other. 
This  matter  was  before  the  General  Court  several  years 
and  on  every  important  vote,  the  Governor  and  Council 
were  on  the  side  of  Deerfield,  while  the  Representatives 
of  the  people  always  recognised  the  agreement  as  equi- 
tably binding  upon  the  parties,  and  maintained  that 
Greenfield  had  been  wronged,  and  should  be  redressed. 
It  will  be  seen  by  the  report  in  council  that  they  did  not 
deny  the  contract,  or  the  fairness  of  the  award,  but  set 
up  certain  technical  objections,  as  to  the  power  of  Deer- 
field  to  make  the  agreement,  &c,  which  have  indeed  no 
more  foundation  in  law  than  in  reason. 

Of  the  probable  motives  which  governed  the  different 
parties,  there  has  been  much  speculation,  but  we  know 
little.  As  the  charter  could  not  be  altered  without  the 
concurrence  of  both  branches,  nothing  was  done.  The 
war  of  the  revolution  came  soon  afterwards,  and  our  fa- 
thers forgot  this  excitement  in  the  higher  promptings  of 
patriotism.  They  gave  their  whole  hearts  to  the  cause 
of  their  country. 

The  act  of  incorporation  and  papers  relating  to  other 
6* 


50  HISTORY    OJf 

matters,  mentioned  in  the  foregoing  sketch,  may  be  found 
in  the  appendix. 

In  Dec.  1770,  the  town  of  Deerfield  appointed  a  com- 
mittee to  agree  with  one  from  this  town  as  to  all  matters 
of  controversy  between  them  respecting  town  lands, 
**  more  especially,  all  matters  of  trespass  committed  by 
the  inhabitants  of  sd  district  from  1768  to  the  present 
time,  and  to  make  final  settlement  of  all  matters  or  ac- 
tions in  law,  judgement  and  executions,  that  have  al- 
ready commenced  or  been  recovered  against  any  person 
or  persons  for  trespass,"  &c.  &c. 

In  1771,  a  committee  was  chosen  to  meet  and  agree 
with  a  committee  from  Deerfield  all  matters  of  contro- 
versy respecting  town  land,  and  all  matters  of  trespass, 
&c.  These  were  adjusted  and  a  discharge  given  by 
Deerfield  for  £40,  with  a  reservation  that  nothing  there- 
in written  should  effect  the  title  to  the  land. 

Mr.  Sewell  was  chosen  agent  for  the  town  to  act  for 
them  at  the  General  Court  with  respect  to  the  town  land. 
Again,  in  1772,  Samuel  Hindsdale  was  appointed  to 
prefer  a  petition  to  the  General  Court,  that  Greenfield 
incorporation  bill  might  be  repealed  and  the  town  be  in- 
corporated into  a  Parish  unless  they  might  be  entitled  to 
ail  the  privileges  and  emoluments  agreeable  to  the  re- 
port of  the  committee  appointed  by  Deerfield  for  that 
purpose,  which  report  was  confirmed  by  a  vote  of  that 
fown.  Samuel  Barnard,  Jr.  and  J.  Adams,  Esq.  of 
Braintee  were  added,  by  a  vote  of  Deerfield,  to  their 
agents,  to  manage  the  controversy  with  this  town  before 
fhe  General  Court. 

Nothing  further  appears  upon  the  records  respecting 
this  subject  until  the  year  1782,  when  the  subject  was 
again  brought  before  the  town. 

Public  Worship. — 1772.  A  vote  was  passed  to 
finish  the  meeting  house  the  following  year.  Many 
houses  of  worship  at  this  period  were  without  pews  and 


GREENFIELD.  61 

the  audience  were  accommodated  with  benches  ranged 
about  (he  house.  The  sinjj;ing  for  a  long  period  was 
conducted  altera  manner  which  is  now  called  "deacon- 
ing," and  was  on  this  wise  ; — The  singers  were  dispers- 
ed about  the  meeting  house,  having  no  place  assigned 
them,  by  themselves.  After  the  minister  had  read  the 
psalm,  he  repeated  the  first  line  which  the  singers  sang, 
the  Deacon  then  took  up  the  matter  and  read  the  next 
line,  which  went  through  a  like  process  as  before  had 
befallen  the  first  line,  and  so  on.  In  some  towns,  meet- 
ings were  held  on  the  subject.  At  Worcester  a  town 
meeting  was  called  in  1726,  to  see  "  in  which  way  the 
congregation  shall  sing  in  future  in  public,  whether  in 
the  ruleable  way  or  in  the  usual  way  ;"  the  former  was 
adopted,  not  without  opposition.  The  mode  of  reading 
prevailed  in  Boston  and  throughout  New  England,  un- 
til about  the  year  1780.* 

In  1773,  "  Voted  that  age,  state  (estate)  and  qualifi- 
cations to  be  the  rule  for  seating  the  meeting  house.  A 
committee  was  chosen  to  draw  up  something  to  send  to 
the  committee  of  Correspondence  at  Boston,"  also  j£20 
for  a  school ;  j£320  to  pay  town  debts. 

In  1774,  "Voted  £42  for  town  debts,  and  to  divide 
the  town  into  squadrons  for  the  best  advantage  for  the 
public  schools." 

Sept.  1774.  At  a  full  meeting,  Samuel  Hinsdale,  En- 
sign Timothy  Childs,  Daniel  Nash,  Ebenezer  Arms, 
Thos.  Nims,  Samuel  Wells,  Benj.  Hastings,  chosen 
committee,  some  one  or  more  of  them  to  attend  the 
Provincial  or  County  Congress.  Oct.  Daniel  Nash, 
delegate  to  Prov.  Congress  to  be  held  at  Concornd  the 
nth  inst. 

There  had  been  much  excitement  and  trouble  in  the 
Province,  previous  to  this  time  on  account  of  the  oppres- 
sive acts  of  the  British  Government,  and  among  others 

*  Lincoln's  Hist.  W^orcester. 


5^  HISTORY    OF 

the  duly  on  tea — the  detested  Bohea,  as  it  was  expres- 
sed, which,  notwithstanding  many  towns  had  passed 
Resolutions  that  they  would  not  purchase  any  articles  of 
British  Merchandize,  except  medicines,  was  still  secret- 
ly made  use  of  hy  many,  fastening  up  their  doors  while 
using  it,  but  the  more  patriotic  made  use  of  infusions  of 
mint,  Sage,  &c.  The  operation  of  the  Port  Bill  also,  by 
which  the  port  of  Boston  was  precluded  from  shipping, 
or  landing  Goods,  and  was  closed  up,  put  an  end  to 
business  and  produced  great  distress,  with  many  other 
grievances,  were  the  causes  of  the  Congress  at  Concord. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Remarks. — Revolutionary  Times  and  Incidents. 

From  the  character  of  the  matter  in  the  preceding 
chapters,  I  apprehend  very  few  readers  will  follow  my 
pen,  page  by  page,  to  the  commencement  of  this  ;  that 
few  have  had  patience  to  follo'vv  out,  and  be  with  me  to 
the  close  of  the  last.  Such  annals  are  to  most  readers 
dry  and  uninviting,  and  gladly  would  I  have  omitted 
many  details,  if,  consistently,  I  could  have  done  so.  Pji- 
tience  should  be  ranked  high  in  the  list  of  cardinal  vir- 
tues, and  is  of  inestimable  value  to  the  poor  and  unfor- 
tunate ;  unblessed  by  its  influence  and  the  smiles  of  the 
enchantress,  hope,  life  would  be,  to  many,  an  insup- 
portable burthen  ;  and  that  too,  to  some,  who  to  us  seem 
happy,  or  in  whose  circumstances  we  can  see  nothing  to 
mar  their  felicity —but  whose  hearts  are  full  of  bitterness. 
Be  our  condition  what  it  may,  we  are  then  only  correct, 
when  we  envy  no  one,  and  make  the  best  we  may  of  our 
own.     The  clouds  and  mists   which  nowi  perchance, 


1 


GREENFIELD.  63 

obscure  the  horizon  of  our  prospects,  hovering  over  the 
mountain  summits,  descending  even  to  their  base,  al- 
most blotting  out,  as  to  us,  the  source  of  light,  may 
break  and  disperse  ;  a  bow  of  promise  appear,  and  our 
sun  may  set  in  unclouded  majesty  and  splendor.  He 
who  tempers  the  wind  to  the  shorn  lamb,  may  send  a 
healing  balm  to  cleanse  and  cure  the  wounds  inflicted 
by  the  poisoned  arrows  of  adversity.  Let  your  motto  be 
Durate,  et  vosmet  rebus  servate  secundis.* 

I  advised  the  reader  in  the  third  paragraph  of  the  first 
chapter,  that  the  subject  was  dry  and  uninviting — and 
gave  sufficient  intimation  that  the  volume  would  be  so  ; 
thus  far  my  promise  or  prediction  has  been  fulfilled  to 
the  letter.  Let  him  apply  the  patience  I  have  re- 
commended, to  the  preceding  chapters,  and  then to 

all  the  remainder  ;  from  the  mass  of  chaff,  some  grains 
of  wheat  may  be  winnowed. 

1775.  A  period  of  powerful  and  all  absorbing  inter- 
est in  the  history  of  our  country  had  now  arrived,  and 
the  people  were  called  upon  to  decide,  each  for  himself, 
a  question  of  great  moment  and  consequence.  Our 
records  are  almost  barren  of  any  local  incident  relating 
to  it.  The  population  of  the  town  was  then  very  small. 
It  appears  however  from  what  is  known,  that  they  were, 
with  very  (ew  exceptions,  ardently  engaged  in  the  cause. 
That  there  were  not  more  exceptions,  considering  the 
strength  and  power  of  the  British  and  the  ties  of  blood, 
the  weakness,  poverty  and  embarrassment,  and  the  scat- 
tered state  of  the  population,  wearied  and  vexed  by  their 
sufferings  in  the  Indian  and  French  wars,  is  surpris- 
ing. Every  Teading  and  important  event  of  this  Revo- 
lution is  so  well  known,  even  to  the  school  boy,  so 
much  has  been  said  and  sung,  and  related  even  in 
common  every  day  conversation,  and  in  every  4th  Ju- 

♦  With  patience  persevere  and  reserve  yourselves  for 
prosperous  days. 


54  '    HISTORY   OF 

\y  Oration  narrated,  and  re-narrated  for  the  ten  thou- 
sandth time,  that  it  would  be  worse  than  superfluous,  (in 
the  humble  compilation  of  the  history  of  a  town  not  five 
miles  square,  and  which  only  a  few  years  previous  (1763) 
contained  a  population  of  368  men,  women,  boys,  girls, 
maiden  ladies  and  little  children,  all  told)  to  deal  in  lof- 
ty language,  or  enact  any  raptures  on  the  subject. 

The  towns  were  repeatedly  called  upon  during  the 
war  for  articles  of  clothing  and  men  for  the  service,  of 
which  this  town,  as  appears  by  their  records,  furnished 
their  quota.  I  have  chosen  generally  to  give  the  very 
language  of  the  record,  in  some  cases  for  brevity  sake, 
in  others  to  show  their  manner  of  expression,  &c.  as 
matter  of  curiosity,  which  may  give  to  this  work  the  ap- 
pearance, to  some,  of  a  dry,  dull  tedious  detail,  barren  of 
interest.  The  reader  has  a  remedy  in  his  own  hands — 
a  choice  he  can  exercise  to  the  full,  by  laying  down  the 
book. 

"  On  the  19th  April,  an  express  came  to  Worcester, 
shouting  as  he  passed  through  the  street  at  full  speed, 
'  to  arms  !  to  arms  !  the  war  is  begun  !'  His  white  horse 
bloody  with  spurring,  and  dripping  with  sweat,  fell  ex- 
hausted by  the  church.  The  bells  rang  out  the  alarm, 
cannons  were  fired,  the  implements  of  husbandry  thrown 
by  in  the  field,  and  all  seized  their  arms.  The  pas- 
sage of  the  messenger  of  war,  mounted  on  a  white  steed 
and  gathering  the  population  to  battle,  made  vivid  im- 
pression on  memory.  The  tradition  of  his  appearance 
is  preserved  in  many  of  our  villages.  In  the  animated 
description  of  the  aged,  it  seems  hkethe  representation 
of  death  on  the  pale  horse,  careering  through  the  land 
with  his  terrific  summons  to  the  grave.'*" 

The  news  spread  over  the  country  and  the  battle  of 
Lexington  occurred  soon  after.     What  part  of  our  pop- 

*Lincoln'a  Hist.  Worcester. 


GREENFIELD.  55 

ulation  joined  the  army  of  that  time  we  are  uninformed. 
The  2d  Congress  was  held  in  May  and  resolved  upon 
measures  of  defence,  and  to  make  common  cause  with 
New  England,  organized  the  higher  departments  of  the 
army,  emit  bills  of  credit,  and  the  twelve  states  became 
confederate. 

A  vote  is  found  on  record,  at  this  time,  to  raise  100 
pounds  powder  and  lead  each,  in  addition  to  town  stock 
on  hand. 

In  the  midst  of  the  commotions  of  war,  the  people  are 
found  peaceably  proceeding  to  seat  their  meeting  house 
by  a  committee,  by  age  and  estate.  This  was  a  business 
to  which  a  good  deal  of  importance  was  attached,  and 
often  the  occasion  of  much  heart  burning,  hard  feeling 
and  difficulty.  "  Each  man  to  model  his  estate  as  he 
sees  fit  in  his  own  family  ;  the  first  three  in  the  list  shall 
have  the  fir^t  choice  in  the  pews.  They  that  choose  the 
great  pew  or  either  of  the  north  corner  pews  shall  have 
the  next  on  the  list  put  in  with  them,  and  so  till  we  get 
through  the  house.  One  year's  age  shall  be  equal  to 
£3  of  estate.  No  minor  shall  be  seated  for  any  estate; 
males  shall  be  seated  from  16  years  and  upwards — fe- 
males from  14." 

Immediately  after  the  battle  of  Lexington  the  towns 
received  circulars  by  express  or  otherwise,  and  the  peo- 
ple of  this  town  assembled  instanter,  on  the  afternoon  of 
the  day  on  which  the  intelligence  was  received.  It  is 
related  of  one  individual,  Mr.  Elijah  Mitchell,  that  being 
in  the  village  at  the  time,  he  went  home  on  foot,  a  mile 
or  more  west,  and  returned  with  his  equipments,  ready 
to  march,  in  fifteen  minutes  from  the  time  he  started. — 
The  suddenness  of  the  gathering,  reminds  us  of  Scott's 
beautiful  description  of  the  gathering  of  a  Scottish  clan, 
summoned  in  the  hour  of  danger,  by  the  rapid  passage 
over  hill  and  dale  of  the  cross  of  fire  sending  far  around 
its  beacon  light. 


56  BISTORT   OF 

"  Fast  as  the  fatal  symbol  flies, 
In  arms  the  huts  and  hamlets  rise 
From  winding  glen,  from  upland  brown 
They  poured  each  hardy  tenant  down. 
The  fisherman  forsook  the  strand, 
The  swarthy  smith  took  dirk  and  brand, 
With  changed  cheer,  the  mower  blithe 
Left  in  the  half  cut  swathe  his  scythe. 
The  herds  without  a  keeper  strayed, 
The  plough  was  in  mid  furrow  stayed." 

There  were  two  militia  companies,  one  of  which,  un- 
der Capt.  Agrippa  Wells,  met  in  the  village,  and  the  oth- 
er at  the  north  meeting  house  under  Capt.  Ebenezer 
Wells. 

A  great  number  assembled  at  the  meeting  house. — 
With  few  exceptions,  this  assembled  throng,  the  bowed 
with  age,  and  the  stripling  with  scarce  the  down  upon  his 
cheek,  were  ardent  in  the  patriot  cause  ;  the  ardor  spread 
from  heart  to  heart 

''Like  fire  to  heather  set," 

Like  fire  among  the  autumnal  woods, 

as  the  story  was  told,  that  American  blood  had  been 
shed   by  the  British  soldiery. 

It  was  immediately  proposed  that  Thomas  Loveland, 
the  drummer,  should  take  a  station  on  the  horse  block 
under  an  elm  at  the  south  side  of  the  common,  and  beat 
the  long  roll  for  volunteers.  It  was  accordingly  done, 
and  sounded  far  and  wide  among  the  woods  and  fields. 
The  officers  of  the  company,  Capt.  E.  Wells,  Lt.  Allen, 
and  Ens.  J.  Severance  were  there,  but  stood  aloof,  dis- 
suading from  the  adventure  as  savouring  of  treason  and 
rebellion  against  the  Government.  They  had  not  made 
up  their  minds  to  join  the  patriot  cause.  But  the  long 
roll  of  Thomas  Loveland  had  done  its  work.  The 
younger  "  had  heard  of  battles,  and  doubtless,  longed  to 
follow  to  the  field  some  warlike  Lord,"  and  while  their 
zeal  animated  by  the  elder,  from  whose  eyes  came  like 
a  meteor  fire  the  spirit  of  patriotism,  and  their  frames, 


GREENFIELD  57 

inspired  with  a  new  vigor;  to  all  the  voice  of  the  blood  of 
their  brethren,  cried  from  the  ground,  avenge  our  cause 
on  a  brutal  soldiery  !  Among  these  men  was  Aaron  De- 
nio.  There  was  an  overwhelming  majority  for  the  con- 
test. We  can  see  their  eager,  anxious,  determined 
countenances,  and  significant,  animated  gestures.  The 
cautious  advice  of  their  respected,  and  beloved  officers, 
hitherto  listened  to  with  respect  and  obediently  followed 
was  now  no  more  regarded  than  the  passing  breeze,  or 
the  twittering  of  the  swallow,  and  the  crickets  nightly 
song. 

Upon  the  first  beating  of  the  long  roll,  first  and  fore- 
most stood  out,  that  hardy,  industrious  and  bold  yeoman 
Benjamin  Hastings,  a  William  Wallace  in  intrepidity 
and  determined  bravery.  Who  so  daring  as  to  come  next 
and  risk  the  halter?  It  were  difficult  to  say  ;  the  whole 
mass  was  in  motion  on  that  bleak  and  barren  old  com- 
mon, trap  plain.  The  assembled  townsmen  volunteered 
almost  to  a  man.  The  long  roll  of  Tom  Loveland  and 
the  examples  of  Hastings  were  electric  and  contagious. 

We  have  no  captain  to  lead  us  to  avenge  the  blood  of 
our  slaughtered  brethren.  Who  shall  it  be  ?  Benjamin 
Hastings  said  one  ;  Benjamin  Hastings  said  every  one, 
and  he  was  chosen  as  it  were  by  acclamation.  Captain 
Wells  said,  "Serjeant  Hastings,  you  will  have  your  neck 
stretched  for  this."  What  his  reply  was  is  not  known, 
but  his  words  were  probably  as  fearless  as  his  actions. — 
It  was  by  such  a  spirit  as  actuated  this  individual  that 
the  most  glorious  revolution  recorded  by  history,  was  ac- 
complished. 

Hastings*  had  observed  among  the  people  collected, 

*  Mr.  Hastings  was  originally  from  Hatfield,  removed 
to  Wapping  in  Deerfield,  and  thence  to  this  town.  He 
lived  for  a  time  nearly  opposite  Miss  C.  Willard's  house 
— at  the  old  fort.  Aaron  Denio  kept  a  tavern  at  the  for- 
mer place.  Hastings  happened  |in  one  day,  and  Denio 
said  to  several  persons  sitting  there,  here  you  are  a  par- 
6 


68  HISTORY  OP 

Capt.  Timothy  Childs,  who  resided  nea^  the  fells,  and 
had  been  an  officer  in  the  company  of  militia.  With 
that  modesty  which  generally  accompanies  true  merit, 
he  observed  to  the  people  that  Childs  was  older  and  had 
had  much  more  experience  than  himself,  and  declined 
taking  the  command  in  favor  of  Childs,  which  was 
agreed  to,  and  himself  became  second  in  command  ;  he 
had  previously  been  a  sergeant.  Aaron  Denio  was  cho- 
sen Ensign.  Day-break  of  the^  ensuing  morning  found 
them  on  their  march  to  Cambridge.  Another  company 
was  afterwards  formed,  of  which  Agrippa  Wells  was 
Captain.  This  was  made  up  from  the  south  company, 
the  other  was  called  the  east  company.  Stouter  hearts 
never  buckled  on  a  knapsack  or  a  broad  sword,  or  hand- 
led a  musket,  or  fought  at  Thermopylse.  No  braver 
men  fought  at  Bunker  Hill,  at  Bennington  or  Yorktown, 
or  any  other  town  where  fighting  was  to  be  done  for  their 
home  and  barren  wilderness.     It  might  then  be  said — 

If  nothing  else,  "these  barren  fields  afFord, 
Man  and  steel,  the  soldier  and  his  sword." 

How  could  hireling  Hessians  expect  to  conquer  such  a 
people,  contending  for  home,  liberty,  wives,  children  and 
friends.  They  had  mothers  who  set  up  through  the  night 
to  fry  nutcakes  for  the  wants  of  their  husbands  and  sons 
on  their  march,  and  to  run  bullets  to  be  used  to  destroy 
their  enemies;  who  practised  firing  at  marks,  and  watch- 
ed the  forts  in  the  Indian  wars,  with  a  gun  on  one  side 
and  a  spinning  wheel  on  the  other,  while  their  men  folks 
were  putting  the  sickle  in  the  harvest.  They  were  not 
too  genteel  to  be  useful,  nor  their  sons  ashamed  to 
shoulder  a  knapsack  of  home  cakes.  They  were  not  of 
the  "  do'nt  meddle  with  that  gun  Billy"  stock. 

The  officers  who  declined  going  to  Cambridge  were 

eel  of  lazy  drones,  lounging  about  my  bar  room  doing 
nothing,  but  here  is  Hastings  who  never  puts  on  his  leg- 
gins  and  comes  into  the  street  without  earning  a  dollar. 


GREENFIELD.  69 

among  the  first  in  respectability  and  esteem  in  the  town. 
No  one  thought  of  passing  Capt.  Wells  without  uncov- 
ering his  head  in  token  of  respect.  But  he  and  others 
thought  it  madness  to  attempt,  in  the  then  feeble  state, 
impoverished  means  and  small  population  of  the  colo- 
nics, to  resist  the  soldiers  of  the  mother  country.  They 
did  not  however  lose  the  respect  and  confidence  of  their 
townsmen. 

Capt.  Agrippa  Wells,  familiarly  called  Capt  Grip,  had 
seen  service  in  the  old  French  war,  in  a  company  called 
the  Massachusetts  Rangers ;  he  was  taken  captive  and 
carried  to  Canada,  where  the  Indians  compelled  him  to 
run  the  gauntlet,  (a  favorite  sport  among  the  boys  here, 
thirty  years  ago.)  What  he  most  complained  of  as  be- 
ing particularly  mortifying  in  this  foot  race  was,  the  be- 
ing stripped  and  compelled  to  wear  the  chemise  of  an  old 
squaw.  Pah  !  This  was  a  little  too  much  for  the  blood 
of  as  brave  and  fearless  a  hero,  and  as  genuine  a  Yankee 
as  ever  trod  the  soil  of  New  England.  He  was  so  nim- 
ble and  active  that  he  got  through  the  gauntlet  with  lit- 
tle injury.  An  old  squaw  at  the  end  of  the  line  gave  a 
more  severe  blow  than  any  of  the  rest,  which  he,  with 
his  characteristic  spirit,  returned  by  giving  her  a  sturdy 
kick.  The  Indians  seemed  to  regard  this  as  a 
laudable  mark  of  spirit,  for  they  applauded  and  took  him 
into  favor. 

He  was  sent  to  France  from  whence  he  got  to  Eng- 
land and  thence  home.  He  was  enlisted  in  the  Ran- 
gers by  Capt.  Porter,  a  recruiting  officer  who  was  here. 
Porter  accidentally  broke  his  sword  in  coming  out  of 
Aaron  Denio^s  tavern.  He  commanded  a  company 
at  the  taking  of  Burgoyne.  Hastings  was  there  also.— 
He  had  been  out  occasionally  through  the  season  and 
had  returned  home  sick ;  but  a  requisition  came  for  one 
half  the  militia  to  repair  to  Bennington,  Burgoyne  having 
imprudently  moved  so  far  inland  as  to  render  his  situa- 
tion favorable  for  an  effort  on  the  part  of  the  Yankee 


60  HISTORY    OF 

troops  to  surround  him.     Hastings  and  Childs  went  out 
again. 

Capt.  Wells  returned  from  Cambridge  on  a  furlough. 
He  resided  at  the  corner  in  the  old  tavern  house  where 
now  stands  the  store  of  Hall  <^  Co.  Immediately  after 
his  return,  Rev.  Mr.  Newton,  whose  predilections  were 
rather  bearing  to  the  cause  of  the  King,  or  supposed  to 
be  so,  but  at  this  period,  as  at  all  others,  so  great  was  his 
prudence  and  reserve,  that  his  political  views  were  not 
the  occasion  of  any  breach  or  trouble  between  him  and 
his  people,  walked  over  to  Capt.  Wells'  to  inquire  about 
the  war.  He  found  the  family  at  tea.  It  is  not  to  be 
supposed  that  at  this  time,  so  soon  after  the  tea  was 
thrown  overboard,  and  it  was  almost  an  act  of  treason  to 
drink  it,  that  the  patriotism  of  Capt.  W.  would  allow  him 
to  partake  of  the  beverage,  but  the  presumption  is,  that 
it  wqs  procured  for  some  female  of  the  family  on  account 
of  some  medicinal  property  it  was  supposed  to  contain. 
Be  this  as  it  may,  Mr.  Newton  inquired  of  Capt.  Wells 
what  they  intended  to  do  with  the  tories.  "  What  do 
with  them,"  said  the  Capt.  bringing  down  his  clenched 
hand  upon  the  tea  table  with  a  force  and  energy  which 
made  Mr.  N.  start,  and  disturbed  the  equanimity,  almost 
the  equilibrium  of  the  family  board,  and  made  teacups  and 
other  table  furniture  ring  out  a  disturbed  and  discordant 

peal.     "  Do  with  'em,  d n  'em,  we  intend  to  hang 

the  d Is." 

About  this  time,  Mr.  Newton  made  an  exchange  with 
Rev.  Mr.  Ashley  of  Deerfield,  with  whom  he  was  inti- 
mate. Mr.  A.  favored  the  British  cause,  and  it  was 
thought  by  many  that  he  had  an  undue  influence  over  the 
mind  of  Mr.  Newton,  in  relation  to  public  affairs,  and 

Note. — About  this  period,  Capt  W.  was  at  the  house 
of  a  neighbor  in  the  west  part  of  the  tovi^n,  and  on  being 
invited  to  drink  a  cup  of  tea,  said,  "  No,  I  would  sooner 
4rink  my  children's  hearts  blood." 


&k£kNFiltLI>.  6i 

itat  he  was  willing  Mr.  A.  should  take  this  opportunity 
to  treat  upon  the  subject  by  way  of  caution  to  the  peo- 
ple. However,  Mr.  A.  descanted  more  fully  and  freely 
on  the  subject  and  in  a  way  and  manner  not  at  all  suit- 
ed to  their  ideas.* 

As  was  usual,  in  the  intermission  season,  most  of  the 
people  remained  at  the  house.  The  choice  spirits  and 
friends  of  the  Revolution  were  soon  together,  and  as  us- 
ual the  people  collected  aVound  them.  We  can  see  ia 
imagination  the  expression  of  their  countenances,  their 
animated  gestures,  and  hear  the  hurried,  determined  lan- 
guage of  this  group.  Among  them  we  can  see  Capts. 
Childs  and  Wells,  Capt.  Isaac  Kewton,  the  Arms's, 
Smead's,  Nims's,  Allen's,  Graves's,  and  many  others.— 
Benjamin  Hastings  was  there,  and  Samuel  Hinsdale,  Da- 
vid Smead,  Esq.  and  Daniel  Nash.  These  last  were 
immediately  chosen  a  committee  to  take  measures  in  re- 
lation to  Mr.  Ashley's  afternoon  preaching.  They  pro- 
ceeded to  fasten  up  the  meeting  house. 

Samuel  Hinsdale  had  lived  in  Deerfield  a  near  neigh- 
bor to  Mr.  Ashley  and  had  a  personal  dislike  to  him. — 
As  the  time  for  the  afternoon  service  approached  he 
placed  himself  at  the  entrance  of  the  door,  and  the  rest 
of  the  committee  near  him.  As  Mr.  Ashley  proceeded 
to  open  the  door,  Hinsdale  gave  him  a  jog  or  jostle  with 
his  elbow,  not  exactly  gentle  and  courteous,  not  precise- 
ly rude,  like  a  violent  push  or  shove,  which  would  have 
thrown  a  man  down  or  tumbled  him  on  to  or  over  the 
bystanders,  but  evidently  not  the  result  of  accident,  or  a 
mere  joggle,  but  what  is  termed  a  hunch.  On  its  being 
repeated  the  second  or  third  time,  Mr.  A.  interrogated 
him  as  to  his  reasons  for  such  rudo  treatment,  saying, 
"  you  should  not  rebuke  an  elder,"  &c.     Hinsdale  re- 

*  Hutchinson,  the  Royal  Governor,  had  sent  out  com- 
missions of  the  Peace,  &c.  liberally  among  the  people, 
for  the  purpose  of  increasing  the  friends  of  the  King. — 
Mr.  Ashley  had  married  a  relative  of  Gov,  Hutchinson. 
6* 


62  HISTORY   Of 

plied,  *'an  elder,  an  elder,  if  you  had  not  said  you  was 
an  elder,  I  should  have  thought  you  was  a  poison  su- 
mach."    There  was  no  preaching  that  afternoon. 

The  spirit  of  the  people  was  roused  and  their  feelings 
excited  to  intensity  by  the  aggressions  of  the  British  ; 
their  love  of  liberty,  and  right,  and  independence  knew 
neither  slumber  nor  sleep  ;  it  was  not  a  lambent  but  a 
vivid  and  vehement  flame.  Recent  events  had  set  their 
hearts  on  fire. 

Soon  after  this,  Mr.  A.  preached  a  sermon  in  his  own 
pulpit,  at  Deerfield,  in  which  he  spoke  of  the  doom  of 
those  Americans  who  had  fallen  at  Lexington,  as  being 
fearful  in  the  next  world,  and  also  spoke  against  the  pa- 
triot cause.  One  member  of  the  congregation,  a  Mr. 
D.  not  satisfied  with  the  discourse,  during  the  week  fol- 
lowing, held  a  private  consultation  with  a  Mr.  S.  after- 
wards Col.  S.  of  Conway,  and  on  the  Sabbath  ensuing, 
Mr.  Ashley,  on  attempting  to  enter  his  pulpit,  found  it 
spiked  up.  After  several  unsuccessful  efforts  to  enter, 
he  turned  to  Deacon  A.,  a  blacksmith,  and  requested 
him  to  go  and  get  his  hammer  and  undo  the  fastening. 
The  deacon,  with  a  very  proper  gravity,  replied  that  he 
did  not  use  his  hammer  on  the  Sabbath.  An  axe  was 
eventually  procured  and  the  door  opened.  Mr.  D.  was 
in  his  seat  seasonably  to  see  the  whole,  and  for  thirty 
years  kept  his  secret,  as  did  also  Col.  S. 

Daring  the  continuance  of  the  war,  the  towns  were 
often  called  upon  to  furnish  blankets,  clothing,  provis- 
ions, and  soldiers.  Repeated  votes  are  found  for  rais- 
ing money  for  the  hiring  men  for  the  service  and  for  the 
other  purposes  mentioned,  and  for  purchasing  powder 
and  lead  for  the  use  of  the  town.  Yotes  were  passed 
for  many  succeeding  years  Cor  purchasing  beef  for  the 
army. 

1776.  Committees  of  correspondence,  safety  and  in- 
spection were  chosen  in  all  the  towns.  This  town 
agreed  ^^  to  adopt  the  measures  and  instructions  to  our 


GREENFIELD.  68 

representatives  as  it  is  set  forth  in  the  newspapers  to 
Boston  representatives  of  May  20.  Also  that  the  pres- 
ent House  of  R.  with  the  Council  jointly  acting  be  di- 
rected to  proceed  to  form  a  Constitution,  to  be  published 
&c  before  ratification." 

An  act  was  passed  against  monopoly  and  oppression, 
by  which  the  Selectmen  of  towns,  and  committees  of 
correspondence,  were  authorised  to  fix  and  establish 
prices  for  the  regulation  of  the  sale  of  articles  of  com- 
mon use.  The  other  New  England  States  adopted  the 
same  measure.  It  seems  from  all  the  accounts  we  have 
of  that  period,  that,  besides  contending  with  a  powerful 
foe,  the  people  had  worse  enemies  to  contend  with 
among  themselves.  Speculators,  actuated  by  the  infer- 
nal spirit  of  avarice,  (which  withers  and  dries  up  every 
good  feeling  of  the  soul,  under  whose  influence,  men 
though  living  are  dead  to  all  but  themselves,)  oppressed 
and  preyed  upon  the  people,  and  lived  upon  their  mise- 
ries in  this  day  of  trouble. 

The  town  added  four  to  their  committee  of  safety, 
among  whom  we  find  the  names  of  the  late  Ebenezer 
Arms,  and  Capt.  Isaac  Newton.  These  committees 
were  constantly  on  the  alert.  The  price  of  every  article 
of  living  had  advanced,  and  the  measures  taken  to  regu- 
late prices,  &c.  were  in  a  measure  defeated  by  the  de- 
preciation of  the  currency. 

Note. — The  following  are  the  prices  of  some  articles 
fixed   in  Nov.   1776.     Labor  in   summer,  3s  per  day 
Wheat  6s  8d  j  Rye  4s  6d ;  Corn  3s  ;  Peas  7s  ;  Beans  6s 
Spanish  Potatoes  Is  6d;  Oats  Is  9d;  Winter  Apples  Is 
Salt  Pork  7d;  Beef,  grass  fed,  3d;  Stall  4d;  Cheese  6d 
Butter  9d;  Flour  £1  3s;  Milk  2dqt.;  Cider  at  press  4s, 
Mutton  and  Veal  3  l-2d;  Dinners  at  taverns,  of  boiled 
meat  or  equivalent,  8d;  Suppers  or  breakfasts  of  tea, 
coffee  or  chocolate  8d ;  Lodgings,  (soldiers  sleeping  on 
the  floor  not  to  be  considered  such.)   4d;  Flip  or  toddy 
made  with  N.  E.  Rum,  9d  a  mug;  Cotton  and  Linen, 


64  HISTORY   OP 

In  1777  the  town  voted  to  comply  with  the  act  against 
monopoly  and  oppression,  and  chose  five  men  to  prose* 
cute  breaches  thereof.  At  this  time  they  were  required 
to  furnish  shirts,  stockings  and  other  clothing  for  the  ar- 
my in  the  proportion  of  one  set  to  every  seven  malea 
over  sixteen  years  of  age.  Men  for  the  army  were  hir- 
ed by  the  town,  some  for  six  and  some  for  nine  months. 

The  following  anecdote  will  furnish  us  with  some 
idea  of  the  almost  unlimited  power  exercised  by  these 
committees  of  safety.  A  smoke  had  been  occasionally 
seen  rising  from  the  thick  woods  on  the  east  side  of  Fall 
river,  perhaps  opposite  Russell's  factory,  or  nearly  so, 
and  near  where  the  road  now  runs.  Accordingly  the 
committee  was  notified, (Nash,  Childs,  Hastings,  and  A. 
Denio)  who  forthwith  proceeded  to  the  spot,  and  on 
making  diligent  search  found  a  man  by  the  name  of 
Harrington,  in  a  sort  of  cave  or  protected  and  sheltered 
place,  and  all  the  tools  necessary  for  counterfeiting.— 
They  took  him  directly  to  Northampton.  Judge  Haw- 
ley  told  them  that  the  man  could  not  be  imprisoned  in 
the  jail,  as  it  was  then  full  of  tories  and  could  hold  no 
more.  He  directed  them  to  take  him  back  to  the  pine 
woods,  a  distance  of  a  mile  or  so,  this  side  of  the  village, 
and  administer  as  many  lashes  as  they  thought  best  and 
let  him  go.  They  accordingly  repaired  to  the  spot,  and 
executed  the  sentence  as  directed.  Hastings  and  the 
others,  except  Nash,  gave  light  blows.  Nash  put  on 
heavily,  broke  skin  and  brought  blood  at  every  stroke. — 
They  then  bathed  his  wounds  with  spirits  which  they 
brought  for  the  purpose,  and  gave  him  some  to  drink. 

homespun,  yard  wide,  best  common  sort,  3s  6d;  Tow 
Cloth,  good  quality,  yard  wide,  2s  3d;  Shoes,  mens* 
neats  foot  leather,  best,  7s  6d;  Breeches,  best  deers 
leather,  £2  2s.  Beaver  hats,  best,  £2  2s;  Felts  7s;  Ma- 
king full  suit  clothes,  full  trimmed,  £1  4s;  Boards,  best 
white  pine,  at  millj  £2  8s  per  M;  Hay,  English,  best 
qual.  3s  cwt. 


GREENFIELD.  65 

They  made  him  promise  never  to  be  seen  in  this  part  oi' 
the  country  again  and  let  him  go.     He  thanked  them 
heartily  for  their  lenity  and  kindness,  and  departed.     He 
was  not  again  heard  of.     An  ancient  specimen  of  mod- 
ern Lynch  Law. 

In  Sept.  1777,  the  committees  of  safety  west  of  Con- 
necticut river,  received  circulars  from  Gen.  Gates,  from 
his  camp  at  Behmus'  heights,  informing  them  that  Gen. 
Burgoyne  had  caused  Skeensboro',  (now  Plattsburg) 
Forts  Ann,  George,  and  Edward,  and  the  posts  he  had 
occupied  south  of  Lake  George,  to  be  evacuated,  and 
"  the  artillery  stores  and  provisions  to  be  brought  to  his 
army  at  JYaru  JVeighVs  mills,  seven  miles  north  of  his 
camp,  except  some  heavy  cannon  which  are  carried  to 
five  mile  island  in  L.  George— from  all,  it  is  evident 
the  General's  design  is,  to  risque  all  upon  one  rash 
stroke."  The  committees  were  called  upon  by  this  let- 
ter to  send  reinforcements  without  one  moments  delay. 

Immediately  upon  this  call  the  militia  assembled  from 
all  parts  of  New  England,  to  ytop  the  progress  of  Bur- 
goyne.  A  large  proportion  of  the  population  of  this 
town  started  immediately  for  the  seat  of  war,  leaving 
their  families  as  they  were,  not  turning  back  to  take  the 
farewell  kiss  or  to  bury  their  dead.  Whole  fields  of 
grain,  then  ready  for  the  sickle,  were  left  unharvested, 
to  rot.  Here,  in  this  then  wild  and  almost  secluded  re- 
gion shone  forth  that  unconquerable  love  of  liberty^  and 
the  rights  of  man  ;  that  determined  spirit  of  opposition 
to  oppression,  which  distinguished  the  pilgrim  fathers. — 
The  result  was,  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne  with  ten 
thousand  troops. 

To  show  more  fully  the  troubles  of  these  times,  the 
preamble  to  an  act  passed  in  Connecticut  is  inserted 
here  : — "  Whereas  the  rapid  and  exorbitant  rise  upon 
the  necessaries  and  conveniences  of  life  in  this  day  of 
public  calamity  and  distress,  is  chiefly  occasioned  by 
monopolizers,  the  great  Pest  of  Society,  who  prefer  their 


0$  HISTORY   OF 

own  private  gain  to  the  interest  and  safety  of  their  coun« 
try,  and  which,  if  not  prevented,  threatens  the  Ruin  and 
Destruction  of  the  State,  and  the  Committees  from  the 
several  states  of  New  England  have  recommended  that 
the  prices  of  the  necessaries  of  life  be  limited  as  herein- 
after affixed,  &c."* 

In  1778,  the  town  voted  to  approve  the  confederation 
of  the  United  States,  and  took  into  consideration  a  form 
of  government  for  the  State,  sent  out  to  the  people. — 
Seventy  three  members  of  the  town  present.  Five  only 
approved  of  it  and  sixty-eight  disapproved.  £100  was 
raised  for  ammunition. 

*  By  this  tariff  the  price  of  wheat  was  fixed  at  6s;  Rye 
3s  6d;  Corn  3s;  Wool  2s;  Pork  5  to  7  score,  3  pence  1 
farthing,  7  to  10  S  1-2  pence,  above  ten  2d  3  farthings. — 
Grass  fed  beef,  best  quality  not  to  exceed  24s;  Good 
Flax  lOd;  Well  tanned  Leather  Is  5d;  Mens' good  yarn 
Stockings  not  to  exceed  6s;  Potatoes,  commonly  called 
Spanish,  of  the  best  sort,  not  to  exceed,  in  the  fall,  Is  4d, 
and  at  any  other  season,  not  over  2s;  Good  Coffee  not  to 
exceed  Is  4d;  Tallow  7  1-2;  Good,  yard  wide,  striped 
Flannels,  3s  6d;  Rum  not  to  exceed  6s  8d  wholesale,  7s 
8d  retail,  allowing  one  penny  a  gallon  for  every  ten  miles 
transportation  by  land;  N.  E,  3s  lOd  prgal.prhhd.  4s  pr 
bbl;  best  Muscovado  Sugar  54s  per  100.  at  the  port  of 
delivery,  allowing  9d  per  mile  for  every  ten  miles,  &c. 
&.C.  and 

Whereas,  considering  that  Goods  in  general,  imported 
have  of  late,  (owing  to  the  unbounded  avarice  of  some 
persons)  been  sold  by  wholesale  at  the  exorbitant  ad- 
vance of  500  or  600  per  cent,  from  the  prime  cost,  and 
retailed  out  at  the  unreasonable  profit  of  40  and  50  per 
cent,  or  more  in  addition  thereto,  &c.  &c.  The  act  pro- 
hibits the  importer  from  taking  at  higher  rate  than  the 
proportion  of  £275  sterling  for  what  cost  £100  in  Eu- 
rope, for  Woolen,  coarse  Linens,  8tc. — other  goods  $250 
for  £100 — and  limits  the  retailer  to  20  percent,  advance, 
forfeiting  for  any  article  sold  at  or  under  20s  a  penalty 
of  20s;  over  that  sum,  forfeiture  of  the  whole. 


GREENFIELD.  67 

In  regard  to  the  law  for  regulating  prices,  the  follow- 
ing are  stated  for  facts  in  the  Journals  of  the  day  : — 

"  The  prosecuting  officers  have  been  called  upon  in 
vain  to  prosecute  breaches  of  the  law  for  regulating  pri- 
ces. The  spirit  of  it  is  violated  every  day  by  those  who 
withhold  what  they  have  to  sell ;  and  the  Letter  of  it  by 
those  who  sell  what  they  have,  and  evasions  of  it  are  in- 
numerable. Many  who  were  very  ready  to  assist  in 
making  the  law,  have  been  as  ready  to  break  it,  and  con- 
spired with  others  to  bring  their  own  authority  into  de- 
rision. Horses  are  undoubtedly  the  internal  produce  of 
the  State,  yet  they  are  sold,  3,  4  and  500  per  cent,  high- 
er than  in  1774.  What  farmer  will  exert  himself  to 
raise  beef  when  his  lean  horse  will  sell  for  more  than 
his  FAT  CATTLE  1  Leasing  cattle  for  999  years,  selling 
an  ordinary  cow  by  guess  at  1000  wt.  pawning  eight 
dollars  for  a  gallon  of  rum,  &c.  are  among  the  common 
evasions  of  this  law. 

How  will  the  middling  and  poorer  sort  of  farmers  pay 
their  share  of  the  expenses  of  this  war,  when  they  must 
give  at  the  rate  of  two  bushells  of  wheat  for  every  one 
that  was  purchased  in  '77  ;  while  those  who  have  amas- 
sed great  sums  of  money  rejoice  at  having  a  double  value 
stamped  upon  it,  and  anticipate  the  day  when  their  neigh- 
bors farms  must  be  exchanged  for  their  own  cash,  to  pay 
the  public  debt.  (This  breed  of  men  is  not  extinct  in 
1838.)  It  was  said  this  law  was  designed  to  satisfy  the 
army,  but  its  effect  is  the  reverse.  They  deem  it  rob- 
bing them  of  a  great  part  of  their  pay  which  ought  to  be 
made  good  in  full.  Our  currency  has  long  been  grow- 
ing more  plenty  and  less  valuable,  and  a  law  will  as  soon 

Note. — The  following  prices  stated  in  Aug.  1779, 
show,  on  comparison  with  those  of  'Nov.  1776,  the  de- 
preciation of  the  currency  in  the  interval.  Corn,  bu. 
£3  12s;  Rye  £5  2s;  Wheat  £8  2s;  Oats  £1  16s;  Cider 
£4;  Hay,  cwt.  £1  10s;  Labor  £2  14s;  Womens'  labor, 
week,  £2;  Beef,  lb.  5s  6d;  Mutton  and  Veal  3s  6d;  But- 


68  HISTORY  Ot 

convince  people  that  it  is  as  scarce,  as  that  it  is  as  pre- 
cious as  it  was  in  '74.  Let  us  be  content  to  raise  the 
credit  of  our  bills  by  the  same  degrees  that  it  sunk,  and 
not  ruin  public  faith  by  setting  it  to  work  miracles.  Let 
us  make  good  our  contracts  with  the  army  ;  establish  an 
equal  mode  of  taxation  ;  call  for  the  money  where  it 
may  be  found,  &c." 

In  1780,  the  town  voted  that  the  committee  who  hired 
the  nine  months  men,  act  discretionally  about  paying 
them.  A  committee  was  chosen  to  hire  men  for  six 
months,  and  in  compliance  v/ith  the  resolve  of  May  4,  to 
pay  for  the  clothing  and  blankets  when  called  for.  In 
July  they  voted  to  give  the  men  that  serve  in  the  Conti- 
nental army,  twenty  shillings  a  month  in  addition  to  their 
wages,  and  one  thousand  dollars  in  paper  money,  for  six 
months. 

What  the  population  of  the  town  then  was,  and  their 
quota  of  men  at  the  time  when  called  for,  I  have  not 
been  able  to  ascertain.  It  had  become  extremely  diffi- 
cult to  procure  men  to  serve  ;  the  means  of  the  country 
had  become  exhausted  ;  there  v/as  a  scarcity  of  money, 
men,  and  every  thing  else  but  a  determination  to  be  free. 

The  amount  of  money  raised  by  taxation  was  so 
great  as  to  be  extremely  burthensome  to  the  people  ;  to 
which,  add  the  grievances  by  the  wicked  acts  of  those 
bloodsuckers,  the  monopolizers  and  speculators,  (who 
were  found  every  where,  and  so  utterly  unprincipled  and 
depraved,  as  to  be  preying  upon  the  poverty  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  the  pittance  of  the  soldier  fighting  the  battles  of 
his  country,)  and  the  depreciation  of  the  currency,  which 
rendered  the  nominal  amount  of  taxation  excessive. 

ter  lis;  Cheese  53  6d;  Wool  £1  4s;  Mens'  shoes  6/; 
Stockings  31  123;  Shirts,  Tow  cloth,  41  16s.  In  June, 
'79,  farmers  produce  had  advanced  in  the  ratio  of  36  1-2 
to  1;  W.  I.  Goods  as  41 — 1—9  to  1.  Labor  as  15  to  1 
of  the  price  in  March,  same  year. 


GREENFIELD.  69 

The  true  value  of  appropriations,  &c.  may  be  estimated 
by  reference  to  the  subjoined  table  ;  the  figures  indicate 
the  number  of  dollars  in  continental  currency,  equivalent 
to  100  in  gold  and  silver.  To  April,  1780,  the  value 
was  fixed  as  stated  below,  by  the  act  of  Mass. 


1777 

1778 

1779 

1780 

January, 

105 

325 

742 

2934 

February, 

107 

350 

868 

3322 

March, 

109 

375 

1000 

3736 

April, 

112 

400 

1104 

4000 

May, 

115 

400 

1215 

3430 

June, 

120 

400 

1342 

6650 

July, 

125 

425 

1477 

6900 

August, 

150 

450 

1630 

7000 

September, 

175 

475 

1800 

7100 

October, 

275 

500 

2030 

7200 

November, 

300 

545 

2308 

7250 

December, 

310 

634 

2595 

7400 

In  1781,  one  dollar  of  specie  was  equal  to  $1,87  in 
new  emission  bills,  from  Feb.  27,  to  May  1  ;  2,25  to 
May  25;  3,00  to  June  15;  4,00  to  Oct.  1  Below  these 
dates  the  depreciation  approached  to  total  worthlessness. 

In  October  of  this  year,  £155  in  new  emission  bills^ 
was  raised  to  purchase  beef  for  the  army,  to  comply  with 
a  resolve  of  the  General  Court  of  Sept.  25.  In  Dec. 
"  Yoted  to  the  three  months'  men  who  served  under 
Capt.  I.  Newton,  fifty  shillings  each,  as  a  bounty  for  their 
hire,  in  the  new  emission  money  of  the  State." 

A  brief  sketch  of  the  character  of  Capt.  Newton  and 
his  Revolutionary  services  may  be  found  under  the  title, 
Biographical  Sketches. 

The  winter  of  1780  has  become  memorable,  and  by 

Note. — The  whole  expenses  of  the   Revolutionary 
war,  to  the  States,  were  in  paper  money,  $359,547,027, 
estimated  in  specie  at  $135,193,703. 
.7 


70  HISTORY   OF 

old  people  often  referred  to  as  the  "  hard  winter."  The 
19th  May,  of  the  same  year,  is  memorable  in  the  annals 
of  N.  England,  as  the  "  dark  day,"  and  is  an  epoch  in  its 
history.  The  darkness  commenced  before  noon  and 
continued  through  the  day,  and  until  midnight,  was  great- 
er than  usual.  It  seemed  to  come  with  clouds  from  the 
south,  and  extended  from  Maine  to  N.  Jersey.  In  many 
places,  common  print  could  not  be  read  ;  the  time  of 
day  perceived  by  clocks  or  watches,  or  house  work  be 
done  without  candles  ;  the  birds  and  fowls  retired  to 
roost,  and  the  cocks  were  crowing  as  at  day  break,  and 
every  thing  assumed  the  gloom  of  night. 

In  January,  1781,  the  sum  of  three  hundred  pounds 
was  raised  to  buy  beef  for  the  army,  and  a  committee 
chosen  to  hire  men.  Those  who  owed  the  town  or  had 
collected  money,  bore  the  depreciation  of  the  currency, 
by  a  vote  of  the  town. 

Justice. — In  the  month  of  May,  the  town  passed  a 
vote  to  "have  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,"  and  David  Smead 
was  appointed.  An  Esquire  was  then  a  much  more  im- 
portant personage  than  at  this  day,  and  the  title,  as  well 
as  all  of  a  military  kind,  of  themselves,  conferred  dis- 
tinction, and  were  a  warrant  of  merit,  and  a  sure  recom- 
mendation of  character,  a  certificate  undoubted.  This 
appointment  at  that  day  is  of  itself  alone,  an  evidence  to 
us,  that  he  was  a  man  of  intelligence,  talents  and  worth. 
He  was  much  resorted  to  for  council  and  advice  in  all 
cases  of  difficulty  between  neighbors,  as  a!-30  for  infor- 
mation on  public  affairs,  as  was  after  him,  his  son,  the 
late  Hon.  Solomon  Smead. 

In  the  intermission  on  Sundays  at  the  old  north  meet- 
ing house,  on  Trap  plain,  most  of  the  people  tarried,  and 
a  collection  might  always  be  seen,  of  which  he  was  the 
centre,  or  focal  point  about  which  all  gathered,  for  the 
people  looked  up  to  him  with  a  respect  amounting  to 
reverence,  and  as  to  an  oracle,  for  information  on  all 


GREENFIELD.  71 

subjects.  His  tall  and  venerable  figure  is  still  remem- 
bered by  some  of  the  living,  by  one,  at  least. 

His  three  sons,  the  late  Hon.  Solomon  Smead,  David 
Smead,  frequently  called  Master  David,  from  his  having 
been  one  of  the  earliest  school  teachers  in  town,  and 
Maj.  Julia  Smead,  after  their  father's  decease,  occupied 
together,  in  common,  and  in  harmony,  the  same  fine 
meadow  farm,  (being  at  one  period,  perhaps  the  best  real 
estate  in  town,)  until  within  a  few  years  previous  to  the 
decease  of  the  first  named,  a  sample  of  the  patriarchal 
age.  Another  son,  Benjamin,  recently  a  member  of 
the  N.  Y.  Legislature,  learned  the  art  of  printing  of 
Thomas  Dickman,  Esq.  and  established  a  paper  at 
Brattleboro',  called  the  Federal  Galaxy,  about  the  year 
1799. 

July  9.  Money  was  raised  this  year  to  pay  for  horses 
sent  into  the  service  the  last  year,  and  the  town  refused 
to  purchase  their  "quota  of  beef  demanded  by  the 
court." 

July  26.  The  vote  was  reconsidered,  and  the  asses- 
sors directed  to  act  discretionally  in  making  a  rate  suffi- 
cient for  it. 

They  also  voted  to  raise  eight  militia  men  to  go  to 
West  Point  for  three  months,  and  to  give  ten  silver  dol- 
lars a  month  as  a  hire  to  each  man  for  his  services  ;  the 
town  to  receive  the  wages.  The  late  Capt.  Isaac  New- 
ton commanded  a  company  at  West  Point  at  this  time. 

Gill  set  off.— In  December  of  this  year,  a  vote  was 
passed  to  set  off  the  people  the  east  side  of  Fall  river  as 
a  town,  to  come  to  the  centre  of  the  river.  Moses  Bas- 
com,  Timothy  Childs,  and  others,  whose  names  have 
been  mentioned  heretofore,  resided  in  that  part  of  the 
town,  and  were  prominent  men  in  their  day.  Gill  was 
not  incorporated  until  1795, 

Warning  Out. — One  circumstance  in  the  history  of 
the  early  settlements,  distinguishes  their  times  in  a  par-* 
ticular  manner  frorn  our  own,     Frequent  entries  are 


72  HISTORY    OF 

made  on  the  records  of  the  names  of  persons  who  had 
come  to  reside  in  town,  with  the  time  when  and  the 
place  from  whence  they  came.  In  many  instances,  in- 
dividuals were  notified  to  leave  town,  where  they  had  on- 
ly been  for  a  few  days,  without  having  given  an  intima- 
tion of  remaining.  They  were  warned  by  the  Consta- 
ble, who  had  a  warrant  from  the  Selectmen,  in  which  it 
was  staled  that  they  had  not  received  the  consent  of  the 
town  to  become  residents,  &c.  Mr.  Worthington,  in 
his  History  of  Dedham,  says  the  reason  for  this  pro- 
ceeding is  obvious.  They  might  become  expensive, 
and  a  greater  objection,  they  might  occupy  the  places 
wanted  for  their  own  sons,  who  might  thereby  be  obliged 
to  emigrate — possibly  they  might  feel  that  the  descend- 
ants of  such  puny  a  stock  as  they  could  boast  of,  would  be 
in  danger  of  pollution  by  the  free  introduction  of  stran- 
gers. It  is  probable,  however,  that  it  was  to  prevent 
their  becoming  chargeable,  or  gaining  a  residence,  and 
in  conformity  to  a  law  then  existing.  Mr.  W.  says — 
The  first  settlers  required  a  strict  scrutiny  to  be  made 
into  every  man's  character  who  was  proposed  for  admis- 
sion, &c.  A  committee  waited  upon  them  to  inquire 
their  motives  for  being  in  town,  and  if  answered  that  it 
was  for  the  purpose  of  settlement,  they  asked  them  some 
such  questions  as  these: — Who  are  you  sir?  Where 
from  ?  What  worldly  substance  have  you  ?  Do  you  ap- 
prove our  Church  government  ?  Can  you  assure  us  you 
will  not  become  chargeable  to  us?  &c.  The  church 
would  be  still  more  strict  in  its  inquiries  as  to  the  reli- 
gious feelings,  doctrines,  &c.  of  men>bers  proposed. — 
The  old  law  authorised  towns  to  warn  out  persons  who 
had  not  acquired  a  legal  settlement,  and  grew,  perhaps, 
out  of  this  jealousy  of  strangers.  Mr.  W.  very  ingen- 
iously traces  to  this  source,  that  peculiar  trait  in  New 
England  character,  impertinent  curiosity,  so  generally 
noticed  by  our  own  countrymen  and  foreigners,  and 
that  it  grew  out  of  the  attempt  to  establish  a  pure  church 


and  a  pure  Commonwealth,  and  that  this  impudence  was 
necessary  in  those  days»  dictated  by  policy,  &c. — 
Doubted. 

In  1636,  the  Court  of  the  Colony  of  Plymouth  enact- 
ed that  "  noe  person  or  persons,  hereafter,  shall  be  ad- 
mitted to  live  and  inhabite  within  the  Government,  with- 
out the  leave  and  likeing  of  the  Governour  or  two  of  the 
assistants  at  least." 

Period  From  1782  to  1786.— The  war  of  the  Rev- 
olution closed  in  '82.  The  increase  of  population  in  the 
State  the  laat  eight  years  had  been  only  ten  thousand  ; 
if  peace  had  prevailed  during  that  period  it  would  have 
been  perhaps  ten  times  as  great.* 

The  subject  of  the  sequestered  land  in  Deerfield  was 
again  brought  before  the  town,  and  they  voted  "  to  make 
a  trial  for  a  certain  parcel  of  land  the  town  of  Deerfield 
have  taken,  in  manner  as  foUovveth: — that  David  Smead, 
Esq.  is  chosen  to  act  discretionally  for  the  town  to  bring 
on  a  trial  before  the  General  Court,  and  make  report  to 
the  town  of  his  proceedings,  and  likewise  to  keep  an 
account  of  his  expenses  in  said  business  and  lay  them 
before  the  town  for  allowance." 

A  singular  vote  is  found  on  the  records  of  the  year 
'83.  "  Voted  that  three  fourths  of  a  cord  is  a  middling 
load  of  wood,  agreeable  to  the  agreement  of  the  town 
with  Rev.  Mr.  Newton."  This  was  rather  small  busi- 
ness— not  even  middling— and  gladly  would  I  have  been 
spared  placing  it  here,  but  as  an  author,  from  whom  I 
have  freely  quoted,  says  in  relation  to  the  Shay's  insur- 
rection, "  History,  the  mirror  of  the  past,  reflects  with 
painful   fidelity,  the  dark  as  well  as  the  bright  objects 

*  In  a  continental  tax  made  this  year,  207  persons  were 
taxed,  (including  Gill) — 17  non  residents;  sum  required, 
£459  16s  Sdon  the  polls;  2s  9d  3  farthings  on  each  £— 
highest  tax,  Capt.  Eben.  Wells  £55  12s  real;  £9  9s  per- 
sonal. He  lived  where  Esq.  E.  Root  now  does.. 
7* 


74  HISTORY  dr 

from  departed  years."  It  is  more  noticeable,  as  Mr. 
Newton,  sometime  previous,  relinquished  ten  dollars  of 
his  salary  and  gave  twenty  for  the  use  of  the  poor. 

Division  of  the  County. — The  subject  of  a  divis- 
ion of  (he  County  of  Hampshire,  was  agitated  in  1784, 
and  this  town  voted  to  join  with  the  neighboring  towns 
in  petitioning  for  it. 

As  a  dispute  had  existed  for  some  years  between  the 
town  and  Mr.  Newton,  about  the  quantity  of  wood  he 
should  have,  it  was  settled  in  '86,  by  a  vote  allowing 
him  forty-four  cords  annually,  of  good  merchantable 
wood,  chestnut,  pine,  hemlock,  to  be  excepted,  "  provid- 
ed he  will  except  it." 

For  a  long  period  after  the  war,  as  the  military  spirit 
did  not  pass  away  with  the  occasion  which  had  roused  it 
to  action,  the  annual  reviews  or  musters  of  the  troops  in 
the  country,  one  of  which  was  generally  held  here  or  in 
the  immediate  vicinity,  drew  together  great  numbers, 
from  all  the  surrounding  country,  and  the  border  towns 
in  Vermont.  On  these  days  there  was,  and  still  is, 
a  great  deal  going  forward.  The  female  sex  formerly 
did  not  hesitate  to  attend  these  displays  in  liberal  num- 
bers. To  be  a  soldier  then  was  a  distinction  by  no  means 
sought  to  be  avoided,  as  now.  The  Revolutionary  sol- 
diers and  officers  usually  attended  the  training  and  re- 
view days,  and  encouraged  the  young  aspirants  for  mil- 
itary honor,  and  at  all  times  excited  their  ambition  with 
oft  told  stories  of  the  recent  war,  of  hair  breadth  'scapes, 
and  how  the  fields  were  won. 

Note. — Hampshire  and  Berkshire  voted  together  for 
Mem.  Cong,  as  late  as  to  1789.  The  population  of  the 
State  in  '86  was  356,582,— black,  4,371.  Boston  con- 
tained 2100  houses — 14,600  inhabitants. 


GREENFIELD  76 


CHAPTER  V. 

From  the  close  of  the  war  to  1789. — Insurrection  under 
Daniel  Shays 

"  And  every  one  that  was  in  distress,  and  every  one 
that  was  in  debt,  and  every  one  that  was  discontented, 
gathered  themselves  unto  him,  (David  at  the  cave  of 
Adullam)  and  he  became  Captain  over  them." — The 
Old  Testament. 

We  have  seen  that  the  number  of  those  who  doubted 
the  safety  and  expediency  of  the  effort  of  the  colonies  to 
free  themselves  from  the  British  yoke,  was  very  small, 
and  that  the  people  of  this  town  generally  imbibed  that 
spirit  of  resistance  to  the  oppressive  acts  of  that  govern- 
ment which  so  generally  prevailed  ;  and  though  hw  in 
number,  and  poor,  did  their  duty,  and  contributed  all  in 
their  power  for  the  advancement  of  the  good  and  glori- 
ous cause  of  independence. 

Some  body  must  work.  The  hard  work  of  the  Rev- 
olution was  most  of  it  done  by  hired  soldiers,  and  the 
hard  work  of  the  present  day  is  much  of  it  done  by 
what  are  called  hirelings.  The  soldiers  of  the  Revolu- 
tion had  little  to  gain  by  the  change  in  a  pecuniary  view. 
They  were  as  staunch  friends  of  liberty  as  their  richer 
neighbors.  While  the  poor  are  looked  upon  by  the  rich 
and  prosperous  as  a  degraded  class,  fit  only  to  do  the 
drudgery,  as  a  burthen  to  society,  a  necessary  evil,  too 
often  oppressed  and  dispised  ;  it  is  by  such  that  the 
battles  are  fought  by  sea  and  land,  and  the  hard  work  is 
done.  Nothing  actually  degrades  men  but  ignorance 
and  vice. 

There  was  no  superfluity  of  money  or  any  other  per- 
sonal property  in  the  country  when  the  war  commenced 
It  found  the  people  poor  at  first,  and  kept  and  left  them 


7^6  HISTORY    OF 

SO  ;  not  only  so,  but  a  great  public  debt  pressing  upon 
the  government,  and  private  debts  upon  individuals,  like 
the  fabled  night-mare  upon  her  sleeping  victim.  To  use 
the  language  of  another,  "  After  eight  years  of  war, 
Massachusetts  stood~with  the  splendor  of  triumph  in  Re- 
publican poverty,  bankrupt  in  resources,  with  no  reve- 
nue but  of  an  expiring  currency,  and  no  metal  in  her 
treasury  more  precious  than  the  continental  copper,  bear- 
ing the  devices  of  union  and  freedom." 

Foreign  goods,  superfluities  and  luxuries  had  become 
plenty  and  cheap,  and  the  people,  did  then,  as  they  do 
now,  buy  too  many  on  credit.  In  1784,  more  than  two 
thousand  actions  had  been  entered  in  the  County  of 
Worcester,  then  containing  a  population  of  50,000  only, 
and  in  '85,  seventeen  hundred  were  entered.  The  num- 
ber in  Hampshire  County  was  as  large  or  larger.  The 
full  view  of  a  Sheriff  when  you  are  suspicious  he  may 
have  a  precept  against  you  is  rather  startling — not  to 
say  horrible  ;  a  genuine  dun  is  sufficiently  uncomforta- 
ble, and  when  oft  repeated,  is  exceedingly  ungraciously 
received  by  the  receiver,  especially  if  couched  in  the  un- 
feeling, importunate,  impudent  language  and  manner, 
and  half  devouring  air  of  some  men,  it  becomes  still 
more  loathsome  and  disgusting  than  even  the  walls  of  a 
dungeon.  There  is  no  redeeming  quality  in  a  dun,  and 
he  who  is  often  exposed  to  it,  (and  few  are  not) 
although  he  grows  callous  and  apathetic  by  the  repeti- 
tion, may  well  exclaim  with  the  humble  Cowper, 

'^  O  for  a  lodge  in  some  vast  wilderness. 
Some  boundless  contiguity  of  shade. 
There  is  no  flesh  in  man's  obdurate  heart, 
It  does  not  feel  for  man." 

Thanks  to  the  benevolent  spirit  of  our  age,  that  mon- 
strous power,  too  often  exercised  in  malice  and  revenge, 
and  a  greater  than  any  individual  has  in  any  other  case 
(the  power  of  imprisoning  an  innocent  man  Tor  debt) 
of  taking  away  his  liberty,  is  in  effect,  passed  away. 


GREENFIELD.  77 

To  return  from  our  digression — Immense  numbers  of 
suits  had  been  commenced  ;  executions  hung  over  the 
people ;  *'  the  debtor  waked  to  thoughts  of  gyve  and 
jail ;"  lands  and  goods  were  seized  and  sold  at  great  sa- 
crifice and  ruin,  irremediable  ruin  stared  all,  or  nearly 
all,  full  in  front.  The  burthen  of  taxation  was  enor- 
mous. 

A  convention  was  held  in  this  town  in  1781,  by  com- 
mittees from  seven  towns  in  this  county,  "  to  take  into 
consideration  some  of  the  difficulties  attending  public  af- 
fairs, particularly  the  taking  off  the  tender  from  the  new 
emission  money,  as  it  was  proposed  by  Congress,  and 
remedy  the  depreciation  of  the  old  currency,  and  defin- 
ed as  a  fixed  and  permanent  medium  of  trade,  &c.  also 
10  consider  the  complaints  respecting  the  wages  and 
clothing  of  the  army.''  A  committee  of  a  convention 
held  at  Hatfield  in  1782,  reported  a  list  of  grievances, 
upon  which  the  convention  was  nearly  equally  divided. 
One  was  also  held  at  Deerfield  in  1783,  to  consider  up- 
on the  manner  in  which  taxes  were  collected  and  proper- 
ty sold  therefor.  They  issued  a  circular  calling  upon 
people  to  assemble  and  assist  in  releasing  from  jail  an 
individual  confined  for  assisting  in  stopping  an  auction 
sale  of  property  taken  for  taxes. 

Artful  men,  to  answer  their  own  wicked  purposes, 
fanned  the  flame  of  rebellion,  and  desperation  and  mad- 
ness seized  the  minds  of  the  people  with  unyielding  and 
remorseless  gripe. 

"  He  that  saw 
His  patrimonial  timber  cast  its  leaf, 
Sells  the  last  scantling  and  transfers  the  price 
To  some  shrewd  sharper  ere  it  buds  again. 
Estates  are  landscapes  gazed  upon  awhile, 
Then  advertised  and  auctioneered  away. 
Improvement,  too,  the  idol  of  the  age. 
Is  fed  with  many  a  victim." 

It  is  scarcely  surprising,  says  a  writer,  thatasufferiog 


78  HISTORY    OF 

and  deluded  people  should  have  attempted  relief,  with- 
out considering  that  the  misery  they  endured  was  the 
necessary  result  of  the  confusion  of  years  of  warfare." 
They  rebelled  because  they  were  not  made  of  wood  and 
stone,  but  had  feehngs,  appetites  and  passions  ;  but  they 
did  not  consider  that  neither  the  law  nor  the  constitution 
were  to  blame.  They  did  not  duly  appreciate  the  caus- 
es which  had  produced  the  existing  state  of  things,  and 
their  natural  and  necessary  results.  The  government 
could  not  extinguish  the  claims  of  creditors,  nor  con- 
sistently delay  the  collection  of  taxes. 

1786.  Gov.  Bowdoin  asked  of  the  Legislature  to 
make  provision  for  the  public  debt  of  one  and  a  half 
million,  in  order  to  maintain  the  credit  of  the  State  ;  it 
must  be  raised  or  some  arrangement  made  with  the  cred- 
itors. The  Legislature  doubted  the  ability  of  the  people 
as  well  as  their  disposition,  and  hesitated,  while  old  tax- 
es remained  uncollected.  A  law  of '81,  authorised  the 
treasurer  to  issue  warrants  for  a  tax  sufficient  to  pay 
principal  and  interest  for  any  year,  even  though  no  tax 
act  passed.  One  million,  at  least,  was  then  wanted. — 
The  proper  debt  of  the  State  was  then  five  millions. 
The  Legislature,  however,  directed  the  Treasurer  to 
suspend  warrants  for  the  sums  required  to  pay  holders 
of  public  securities,  for  which  the  taxes  had  been  pledg- 
ed, and  which  were  then  due.  The  Representatives 
were  censured — their  excuse  was,  the  burdens  of  their 
constituents,  and  the  impossibility  of  paying. 

They  voted  a  tax  on  polls  and  estates,  to  comply  with 
the  requisitions  made  by  Congress.  At  the  same  ses- 
sion, a  motion  made  to  issue  paper  and  make  it  a  tender, 
was  negatived  by  five  sixths  of  the  House. 

The  people  held  conventions  and  passed  rash  and 
threatening  resolves ;  threatening  the  Legislature  and 
denouncing  the  courts  as  engines  of  oppression.  They 
complained — 

1st.  Of  the  amount  of  taxes,  and  that  so  large  assess- 
ments should  be  made  at  such  short  intervals. 


GREENFIELD.  79 

2d.  That  such  large  sums  were  allowed  to  the  Con- 
gress. 

3d.  That  so  much  was  paid  to  Ihe  soldiers,  who  they 
said  might  wait. 

4.  The  {ees  of  lawyers  and  the  costs  of  Courts. 

5.  They  objected  to  the  Senate  as  a  needless  and  ex- 
pensive branch. 

6.  The  high  salaries  of  some  public  officers,  and  re- 
ferred to  the  services  of  Masschusetts  in  the  war,  which 
should  excuse  her  from  paying  so  largely. 

Many  other  causes  of  grievance  were  alleged  and  in- 
sisted upon.  These  things  had  been  spoken  of,  and  the 
complaints  of  the  people  Ijecame  more  and  more  loud 
until  '86,  when  the  storm  which  had  been  so  long  gath- 
ering, like  a  black  cloud,  big  with  the  waters  of  Heav- 
en, burst,  and  sent  forth  its  accumulated  contents,  not  of 
water,  reader,  but  of  noise  and  wind.  Like  the  winds 
imprisoned  by  ^olus,  fabled  king  of  storms  and  tem- 
pests, who  had  hid  them  in  caverns,  and  laid  mountains 
upon  them,  to  restrain  their  headlong  fury,  for  a  long  time 
roaring  within  their  limits,  impatient  of  confinement, 
when  at  the  call  of  the  angry  goddess  Juno,  ho,  with 
his  inverted  spear,  smote  the  mountain  side  and  gave 
them  vent,  they  all  rushed  out,  with  fury,  now  uncon- 
trolled, and  formed  into  companies,  (agmine  facto)  pas- 
sed over  the  sea  in  giddy  whirls,  disjointing  and  dispers- 
ing the  Trojan  fleet  far  and  wide  over  the  waste  of  wa- 
ters. 

They  threatened  and  talked  largely,  and  boasted  of 
what  they  would  do.  Doubtless  there  w^ere  many 
among  them  who  dreamed  of  office  ;  who,  if  they  did  not 
shout  like  exulting  Adonijah,  "  I  will  be  king,"  yet  had 
an  eye  to  filling  their  pockets  in  the  general  confusion, 
and  if  they  had  done  so,  would  have  done  no  more  than 
many  a  heartless  and  shaving  speculator  does  in  our 
own  days,  for  so  greedy  are  some  among  us,  as  to  dis- 
regard the  voice  of  natural  feeling  and  the  rights  of  oth- 


80  HISTORY   OF 

ers,  and  act  as  though  the  idea  of  responsibility  and  ac- 
countability were  blotted  from  the  creed  of  the  human 
race.  On  every  side  is  heard  the  voice  of  complaint  of 
overreaching,  wrong,  injustice  and  oppression. 

"Man's  inhumanity  to  man. 
Makes  countless  thousands  mourn." 

Large  numbers  of  people  assembled  in  the  counties 
of  Berkshire,  Hampshire  and  Worcester,  to  prevent  the 
sitting  of  the  courts.  In  the  instructions  of  the  town  of 
Dedham  to  their  representatives,  speaking  of  the  prac- 
tice of  lawyers,  they  say, — "If  they  cannot  be  effectual- 
ly regulated,  we  then  desire  the  order  of  lawyers  to  be 
totally  abolished,  and  if  a  project  be  brought  forward  to 
relieve  us  from  our  present  difficulties  by  means  of  a  pa- 
per currency,  treat  it  with  the  most  decided  abhorrence. 
Encourage  manufactures  and  do  what  you  can  to  pre- 
vent the  introduction  of  foreign  luxuries."  Pretty  good 
doctrines  these,  and  well  worthy  attention  at  this  day; 
the  reverse  only  serve  to  make  the  trader  a  lordling  at 
the  expense  of  the  consumer. 

The  prejudice  against  lawyers  ia  early  times  was 
much  greater  than  at  present,  and  it  seems  certain,  that 
one  of  this  profession  who  buys  notes,  for  the  purpose 
of  commencing  suits,  as  was  formerly  the  practice, 
brings  groundless  actions,  or  for  small  and  unworthy 
cause,  and  in  every  case  where  opportunity  presents, 
without  regard  to  any  other  principle  than  getting  money, 
is  capable  of,  and  does  more  mischief  than  any  other  de- 
scription or  class  of  men,  and  worthy  only  of  public  in- 
dignation and  contempt. 

No  reason  is  perceived  why  an  honorable  and  humane 
lawyer  may  not  be  as  useful  a  man  in  his  sphere  as  any 
other  citizen,  nor  why  some  of  this  profession  should  put 
on  airs  of  superior  consequence.  The  arrogance  and 
assuming  of  some  of  this  professional  class  of  men,  are 
entitled  only  to  ridicule.     They,  however,  are  not  alone. 


GREKNFISLD.  81 

These  ideas  may  be  too  old  fashioned  for  the  gtntttl 
reader,  and  the  notions  he  may  entertain  of  the  dignity 
which  should  pertain  to  the  professions  and  to  trade,  and 
for  the  distinctions  he  fancies  should  exist  in  society. — 
But  the  day  has  dawned,  and  now  is,  when  the  few  rotten 
remnants  of  aristocratic  feeling  existing  among  us,  and 
those  who  endeavor  to  encourage  and  sustain  them,  are 
alike  fading  away.  May  the  repose  of  that  feeling  be 
eternal. 

To  superior  talent,  intelligence  and  worth,  combined 
with  true  benevolence  of  character,  unassuming,  free 
from  ostentation,  we  cheerfully  bow  and  accord  their 
due.  To  the  preposterous  claims  made  for  distinction 
by  any  profession,  by  wealth,  by  a  brighter  button  or  a 
better  coat,  unattended  with  superior  worth,  even  accom- 
panied by  gentility,  falsely  so  called,  the  common  sense 
of  mankind  will  put  a  veto. 

While  the  elements  of  confusion  were  at  work  among 
the  people,  and  in  the  midst  or  these  troubles,  appeared 
one  Daniel  Shays,  a  man  of  considerable  bravery,  and 
some  experience,  having  been  an  officer  in  the  late  war. 
He  was  active  and  ambitious,  plausible  in  his  manners, 
but  very  deficient  in  education,  as  his  official  letters 
prove,  "  which  bid  defiance  alike  to  government,  gram- 
mar and  good  spelling."  He  was  in  the  battle  of  Bun- 
ker Hill,  at  the  taking  of  Burgoyne,  and  had  served  un- 
der Lafayette.  Whether,  like  Absolom  and  Adonijah, 
he  thought  within  himself  that  he  would  be  King,  or  like 
Robespierre  and  Cromwell,  to  found  a  military  common- 
wealth, does  not  appear.  Be  this  as  it  may,  like  the 
good  King  David,  soon  after  he  began  his  march  with  a 
small  number  of  followers — 

*' Every  one  thai  was  in  distress  and  every  one  that 
was  in  debt,  and  every  one  that  was  discontented,  gath- 
ered themselves  unto  him  and  he  became  captain  over 
them." 

A  considerable  body  of  insurgents,  estimated  at  near 
8 


82  HISTORY  OF 

iideen  hundred,  all  armed,  had  assembled  at  Northamp* 
ton  and  took  possession  of  the  Court  House,  and  pre* 
vented  the  silting  of  the  Courts.  Similar  proceedings 
took  place  in  other  Counties.  A  proclamation  issued 
by  the  Governor  had  little  effect.  The  legislature  pas- 
sed laws  to  relieve  the  people  ;  an  act  for  easing  their 
burthens,  for  collecting  back  taxes  in  specific  articles  ; 
for  making  real  and  personal  estate  a  tender  in  discharge 
of  executions,  &c.  and  for  making  processes  less  expen- 
sive, and  tendering  pardon  to  the  insurgents.  These 
were  ascribed  to  weakness  or  timidity,  and  did  not  pro- 
duce the  desired  effect.  Shays,  with  a  few  hundred 
followers,  appeared  at  Springfield  and  took  possession 
of  the  court  house  ;  a  petition  was  presented  to  the 
Court  requiring  them  not  to  proceed  with  business,  and 
both  parties  retired  for  that  time. 

From  this  place  they  sent  circulars  to  some  of  the 
towns,  as  appears  by  the  following,  found  among  the  pa- 
pers of  the  town  of  Colerain. 

"  To  the  inhabitants  of  the  Town  of  Cold  Reign  Gen 
We  would  inform  you  that  we  have  about  2000  now  at 
arms,  on  the  ground,  and  that  we  are  not  sufficient  to 
obtain  our  redress  of  Grievances  of  the  Supreme  Court 
would  therefore  Invite  you  to  March  Imediately  to  Head 
Quarters  Now  in  Springfield  with  Arms  Amunition  and 
provisions  to  the  Relief  for  the  Salvation  of  our  Country 
Depends  upon  our  Exertions  at  Arms  for  the  Lord  will 
Deliver  his  people  if  he  will  that  they  should  do  it" 

John  Powers,  Chairman  of  Committee. 
Test  Thos.  Amsden,  Clerk. 

Springfield,  Sept.  27,  1786. 

The  excitement  in  this  part  of  the  country  was  very 
great,  and  the  mobbers,  as  they  were  commonly  called, 
were  joined  by  many  individuals  from  Colerain,  Leyden, 
and  other  towns  in  this  vicinity,  with  a  few,  and  but  a 
few,  from  this  town.  The  people  here,  were,  as  a  mass, 
on  the  side  of  the  government.     Shay's  men  were  dis- 


GREENFIELD.  83 

tinguished  by  wearing  green  boughs  io  their  hats  as  a 
badge  of  party. 

The  militia  in  Hampshire  and  Berkshire  were  order- 
ed out  in  considerable  numbers.  When  the  government 
found  that  it  was  necessary  to  be  serious  and  put  an  end 
to  the  mischievous  frolics  of  Shays  and  others,  between 
4  and  5000  troops  were  raised  and  put  under  the  com- 
mand of  Gen.  Lincoln  ;  twelve  hundred  were  from 
Hampshire  County  alone.  The  mob  assembled  in  the 
winter  at  Springfield,  where  Gen.  Shepard  had  been  or- 
dered to  post  himself  to  protect  the  U.  S.  Arsenal.  The 
number  under  Shepard  at  this  time  was  about  fifteen 
hundred.  Shays  and  his  party  were  disposed  to  take  the 
arsenal  under  their  own  care  and  keeping,  and  this  they 
meant  to  do  before  Shepard  arrived  with  his  army. — 
Shays  had  about  eleven  hundred  men  who  had  marched 
with  him  from  Pelham.  He  was  joined  by  Eli  Parsons, 
from  Berkshire,  by  a  party  of  four  hundred,  who  had  as- 
sembled in  West  Springfield,  and  posted  themselves  at 
the  north  parish  in  Springfield. 

Sleighs  loaded  with  "  mobbers"  in  considerable  num- 
bers, passed  through  this  town  to  the  scene  of  action 
where  all  were  concentrating,  and  many  citizens  of  this 
town  were  in  the  action,  on  the  side  of  the  government. 
A  deep  snow  was  on  the  ground,  with  a  thick  crust. — 
The  following  version  of  the  almost  mock  battle,  is  from 
Holmes'  A.  Annals  which  I  transcribe,  not  supposing  I 
can  improve  it  by  putting  it  in  different  language. 

"  About  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  25th, 
(January)  Shepard  perceived  Shays  advancing  on  the 
Boston  road,  towards  the  Arsenal,  with  his  troops  in 
open  column.     He  sent  one  of  his  aids  with  two  other 

Note. — At  this  time  one  Luke  Day  had  about  400 
men  at  W.  Springfield,  and  Shays  expected  his  co-oper- 
ation, but  Day  found  good  reason  for  assigning  another 
day  for  the  attack  upon  the  arsenal  than  Shays  had  fixed, 
»Qd  did  Qot  stir  in  the  matter, 


84  HISTORY   OF 

gentlemen,  several  times,  to  know  the  intention  of  the 
enemy,  and  to  warn  them  of  their  danger.  Their  an- 
swer purported  that  they  would  have  the  barracks,  and 
they  immediately  marched  forward  to  within  250  yards 
of  the  arsenal.  A  message  was  again  sent  to  inform  them 
that  the  militia  were  posted  there  by  order  of  the  Gov- 
ernor and  of  Congress,  and  that  if  they  a|)proached 
nearer  they  would  be  fire  don. 

'•That,"  said  one  of  the  leaders,  "is  all  we  want,"  and 
they  advanced  a  hundred  yards  farther.  Shepard  now 
gave  orders  to  fire,  but  he  ordered  the  two  first  shots  to  be 
directed  over  their  heads.  This  discharge,  quickening 
instead  of  retarding  their  approach,  the  artillery  was  lev- 
elled against  the  centre  of  their  column.  A  cry  of  mur- 
der instantly  arose  from  the  rear  of  the  insurgents  and 
their  whole  body  was  thrown  into  total  confusion.  Shays 
attempted  to  display  his  column,  but  in  vain.  His  troops 
retreated  precipitately — mostly  in  the  direction  of  Lud- 
low, about  ten  miles,  leaving  three  of  their  men  dead 
and  one  wounded  on  the  field." 

The  way  of  transgressors  is  hard.  They  scattered 
here  and  there  over  the  snows  ;  the  crust  was  not  sufii- 
ciently  hard  to  bear  them  up,  but  hindered  their  flight 
and  sorely  mangled  their  shins.  It  is  perhaps  singular 
that  all  those  killed  and  the  one  wounded,  who  died  the 
next  day  belonged  to  this  part  of  the  country.  Two  of 
them,  Ezekiel  Root  and  Ariel  Webster,  were  from  this 
town  ;  Jabez  Spfcer  from  Leyden,  and  John  Hunter 
from  Shelburn.  These  men  rose  on  account  of  the  tax- 
ation, doubtless  believing  they  were  engaged  in  the  cause 
of  freedom.  An  individual  from  this  town  by  the  name 
of  Chaloner,  engaged  on  the  government  side,  one  of 
whose  daughters  is  still  here,*  had  both  arms  shot  off 
while  swabbing  a  cannon.  He  afterwards  followed  the 
business  of  school  teaching  till  his  death. 

*  Mrs.  Newell,  the  wife  of  Mr.  David  Newell, 


GftfefeNFiELt).  85 

When  Chaloner  was  disabled  by  losing  his  arms,  the 
iswab  was  also  blown  away  and  destroyed.  Nothing 
daunted  by  this  dreadful  disaster,  Deacon  Harroun  of 
Colerain,  immediately  took  his  place  and  thrust  his  mit- 
tens into  the  cannon  the  length  of  his  arm  and  thus  sup- 
plied the  place  of  the  lost  swab,  exclaiming  at  the  same 
time,  "never  mind  it  boys,  they  hav  n't  killed  us  all  yet." 

Capt.  Agrippa  Wells  of  this  town  of  whom  we  have 
had  occasion  to  make  honorable  mention  as  a  staunch 
whig  and  patriot  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  had  com- 
mand of  a  company  from  this  section,  under  Shays. — 
W^hen  the  mobbers  fled  from  before  the  government  men 
at  Springfield,  he  stood  almost  alone,  while  his  company 
as  well  as  the  others,  had  taken  to  flight,  waving  his 
sword  and  calling  upon  the  retreating  soldiers  to  halt,  in 
a  voice  which  was  heard  all  around  and  far  away  over 
the  snows,  reproaching  them  with  their  cowardice  and 
pusillanimity.  The  simple  fact  that  such  a  patriot  as 
he  unquestionably  was,  who  had  fought  for  the  King 
and  then  for  the  freedom  of  his  native  land,  willing  at  all 
times io  pour  out  his  blood  like  water  for  the  defence  of 
the  right,  should  engage  in  this  affair,  conclusively  shows 
that  the  hardships  of  the  people  were  beyond  endurance, 
and  that  he  considered  the  measures  of  government  op- 
pressive, and  willingly  engaged  in  what  he  considered  a 
second  war  of  independence,  and  to  fight  his  country's 
battles  o'er  again. 

The  main  body  of  the  mobbers  took  post  at  Pelham  ; 
Gen.  Lincoln  at  Hadley.  From  Pelham  they  addressed 
a  petition  to  the  General  Court,  and  afterwards  remov- 
ed to  Petersham,  which,  Lincoln  learning ;  he  by  one  of 
the  most  indefatigable  marches  ever  performed  in  Amer- 
ca,  leaving  Hadley  at  eight  o'clock,  evening,  reach- 
ed N.  Salem  at  2  o'clock  next  morning.  The  weather 
was  extremely  severe  ;  a  storm  of  snow  ivas  falling  and 
fast  filling  the  roads,  and  the  route  was  hilly.  The  wind 
was  bk>wing  a  gale  from  the  norths  and  the  country  so 
8* 


86  HISTORY    O^ 

thinly  settled  as  to  afford  small  chance  of  protection  from 
the  cold  or  occasional  shelter  by  the  way.  Under  all 
these  discouragements,  they  advanced  thirty  miles  with 
scarcely  a  halt.  At  nine  in  the  morning  their  front  was  at 
Petersham.  "Had  an  army  dropped  from  the  clouds,  the 
consternation  could  not  have  been  greater,"  so  unex- 
pected was  their  coming.  Before  this  exhausted  and 
half  frozen  body  of  men,  the  insurgents  fled  with  the  ut- 
most confusion  and  trepidation  like  a  flock  of  sheep. 

One  hundred  and  fifty  were  taken  prisoners — of  the 
rest,  some  retired  to  their  homes,  others  to  difTerent 
States.  The  leaders  ultimately  took  refuge  in  Vermont. 
In  the  affair  at  Springfield  was  a  company  of  about  sev- 
enty from  this  town,  under  Capt.  Moses  Arms,  with 
whom  also  were  some  from  neighboring  towns.  These 
were  on  the  side  of  government.  There  was  about  the 
same  number  of  Shays'  men  under  Capt.  Foot,  from 
what  is  now  Gill.  Arms'  company  was  composed  of 
volunteers  and  spoken  of  as  one  of  the  finest  on  the  hill. 
Maj.  Nash  of  Shelburn,  and  Tubal  Nash  of  this  town, 
were  officers  under  him.  Another  party  started  from 
here  afterwards  to  reinforce  them,  among  whom  was  the 
late  Ezekicl  Bascom,  Lemuel  Hastings  and  Solomon 
Smead.  They  slopped  at  Hadley  at  night,  and  were 
taken  by  a  party  of  Shays'  men,  under  Foote,  and  plun- 
dered of  all  their  provisions.  To  this  party,  probably 
belonged  a  gentleman  recently  deceased,  who,  with  his 
brother  and  others,  set  off  from  a  town  in  this  vicinity, 
after  setting  up  all  night  to  make  nutcakes  and  prepare 
for  the  occasion.  Their  horses  and  other  property,  to- 
gether with  their  cakes,  were  taken  from  them.  Capt. 
Foote  was  afterwards  sued  for  these  aggressions  and 
compelled  to  refund. 

Previous  to  the  action  at  Springfield,  Capt.  Buffington 
of  Worthington,  who  had  known  Shays  in  the  Revolu- 
tionary war,  rode  forward  to  meet  him,  and  remonstrat- 
ed with  him  upon  the  folly  of  bis  undertakings  but  to  no 


GREENFIELD.  87 

purpose.  They  were  both  Captains  in  the  Revolution. 
The  late  Col.  Eliel  Gilbert,  and  others  from  this  town, 
were  under  Buflington  in  the  Cavalry,  and  accompanied 
him  in  his  tour  about  the  county  to  quell  the  mobbers. 
Col.  G.  afterwards  served  with  the  four  months'  men  in 
Berkshire.  Shays  rode  at  Springfield,  a  beautiful  white 
horse  belonging  to  a  Mr.  Allen  of  this  town,  who  was  of 
his  party. 

A  very  considerable  part  of  the  population  of  Colerain 
belonged  to  the  Shays  party.  Upon  hearing  of  the  death 
of  the  three  men  at  Springfield,  a  great  excitement  was 
caused,  and  a  large  number  was  soon  collected.  Dea- 
con Harroun,  before  mentioned,  and  others  on  the  side 
of  the  government,  who  had  gone  out  with  him  from 
there,  did  not  consider  it  safe  to  return  home,  so  great 
was  the  tumult,  and  they  stopped  for  some  days  in  this 
town. 

Commissioners  were  soon  appointed,  of  whom  Gen. 
Lincoln  was  one,  whose  duty  it  was  to  offer  pardon  to 
the  insurgents  on  certain  conditions.* 

Gen.  Lincoln  came  into  this  town  with  about  five 
hundred  men,  among  whom  were  Buffington  and  other 
ofiicers.  Buffington  quartered  his  men  in  the  village 
for  a  time;  and  Lincoln  at  Reuben  Wells'  inn,  where 
Mr.  Goodman  now  lives,  in  the  north  meadows,  where 
the  rebels  were  summoned  to  appearand  take  the  oaths 
of  allegiance.  The  most  part  in  this  section  complied 
with  the  terms.  Among  those  who  demurred  about  at- 
tending when  called  upon  by  the  soldiers  who  were  cent' 
around,  was  the  late  Mr.  Sylvanus  Nash,  and  Mr. 
Thomas  Billings,  both  worthy  men.  Mr.  B.  lived  at 
Music  Hill,  just  beyond  Nash's  Mills.  One  of  these, 
after  going  part  way  with  the  soldiers,  altered  his  mind 
and  escaped  from  them  ;  the  other  engaged  to  wait  up- 

*  Seven  hundred  and  ninety  took  the  benefit  of  the  of- 
fered grace. 


88  HISTORY    Of 

on  the  commissioners,  also  altered  his  mind,  concluding 
not  to  do  as  he  said  he  would. 

A  fine  black  mare,  belonging  either  to  Buffington  or 
one  of  his  men^  became  so  lame  while  here  as  to  be  use- 
less, and  the  white  horse  belonging  to  Mr.  A.  which 
Shays  had  rode  at  Springfield,  was  pressed  into  the  ser- 
vice, willing  or  unwilling,  and  went  through  the  cam- 
paign over  all  this  part  of  the  country^  to  bring  in  the 
mobbers  to  take  the  oaths. 

In  Bernardston,  a  man  by  the  name  of  Jason  Par- 
menter,  was  hotly  pursued  by  a  party  of  the  soldiers  for 
the  purpose  of  arrest.  He  turned  upon  his  pursuers, 
shot  at  and  killed  one  of  them,  whose  name  was  Walker. 
Parmenter  was  arrested,  tried  and  convicted  for  this  of- 
fence. He  went  to  the  gallows  with  a  rope  about  his 
neck  ;  a  pardon  was  then  read  to  him  and  he  was  so 
entirely  overcome  as  to  faint  away.  The  insurrection 
had  then  subsided. 

Eli  Parsons  issued  a  circular  to  the  people  of  Berk- 
shire, dated  Feb.  13,  1787,  by  which  it  would  seem  that 
he  possessed  the  characteristics  of  Robespierre,  or  was 
such  an  one  as  Sallust  describes  Catiline  to  have  been 
two  thousand  years  ago. 

"Berkshire,  Feb.  13,  1787. 
Friends  and  Fellow  Sufferers  of  the  County  of  Berk- 
shire— Will  you  now  tamely  suffer  your  arms  to  be  ta- 
ken from  you,  your  estates  to  be  confiscated  and  even 
swear  to  support  a  constitution  and  form  of  Government 
and  likewise  a  code  of  Laws  which  connnon  sense  and 
your  consciences  declare  to  be  iniquitous  and  cruel,  and 
can  you  bear  to  see  and  hear  the  yeomanry  of  this  com- 
monwealth being  hacked  and  cut  to  pieces  by  the  cruel 
and  merciless  tools  of  tyrannical  Power  and  not  Resent 
it  even  unto  Relentless  blood  shed — Would  to  God  I 
had  the  Tongue  of  a  ready  Writer  that  I  might  Impress 
00  your  minds  the  Idea  of  the  Obligation,  you  as  citizens 


GREENFIELD.  $9 

of  a  Repul)lican  Government  are  under  to  Support  those 
rights  and  Privileges  that  the  God  of  Nature  hath  enti- 
tuled  you  to!  Let  me  now  persuade  you  by  all  the  ties  of 
friendship,  which  natural  Affection  Inspires  the  human 
Heart,  Immediately  to  turn  out  and  Assist  your  Right — 
the  first  step  I  would  Recommend  is  to  destroy  Shep- 
ard's  Army,  then  Proceed  to  the  County  of  Berk- 
shire as  we  are  now  collecting,  at  New  Lincoln  at  York 
Stale  and  Pownal  in  Vermont  State,  with  a  Determina- 
tion to  Carry  Our  Point  if  Fire,  Blood  and  Carnage  will 
Effect  it.  Therefore  we  Beg  that  Every  Friend  will 
Imediately  Proceed  to  the  County  of  Berkshire  and 
Help  us  to  Burgoyne  Lincoln  and  his  army — 1  beg  this 
may  Immediately  be  circulated  Through  your  County. 
I  am  Gent,  in  Behalf  of  myself  and  Other  Officers  your 
Humble  servant.  ELI  PARSONS." 

Parsons  afterwards  resided  at  Bennington,  Vt.  retired, 
and  in  a  miserable  hut  in  the  woods — very  destitute. 
From  there  he  emigrated  to  a  town  a  few  miles  beyond 
Utica,  where  he  became  possessed  of  a  valuable  farm. 
He  is  represented  to  have  been  of  fine,  dignified  personal 
appearance. 

Shays  was  a  native  of  Hopkinton  in  this  State,  born 
in  1747.  <He  sold  a  sword  presented  to  him  in  1780, 
by  Lafayette,  and  received  assistance  in  the  way  of 
alms,  in  the  streets  of  Worcester,  which  he  had  once 
entered  with  a  powerful  army.  From  Vermont  he  re- 
moved to  Sparta,  N.  Y.  where  he  received  a  pension 
from  the  U.  S.  for  Revolutionary  services.  The  appli- 
cation was  made  while  Mr.  Calhoun  was  in  office,  who 
wrote  to  the  government  of  this  State  to  know  whether 
any  legal  objection  existed  to  the  grant  of  a  pension. — 
Declarations  filed  by  himself  (Shays)  in  the  war  office, 
show  that  he  and  his  aged  wife  were  very  poor.  The 
schedule,  filed  in  1820,  was  as  follows: — one  Mare  $25 
—one  old  Saddle  $2,50  -Bridle  50c.— Old  Cutter  $5— 


90  BISTORT   OF 

Old  Axe  62  1 -2c.— -Hoe  62  1-2— Table  $3—3  Chains 
$1,12  1-2— One  old  Scythe  and  Snathe,  $1,  121-2— 
One  old  Pail  12  l-2c— One  large  Bible— $1,00.  He 
died  Sept.  1825,  aged  78. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


*B.nnals  of  the  toion. — Great  sickness  of  1802. — Difficul- 
ties respecting  the  location  of  Meeting  House,  Sfc. — 
Division  of  the  town  petitioned  for. — Ministry. 

For  a  succession  of  years  after  the  insurrection,  we 
find  little  in  the  annals  of  the  town  requiring  particular 
notice.  The  population  increased  gradually  but  slowly. 
After  the  year  1780,  and  previous  to  1790,  several  en- 
terprising individuals  had  established  themselves  in  the 
south  part  of  the  town  in  trade  and  in  various  branches 
cf  mechanical  business,  and  owing  to  the  central  situa- 
tion of  that  part  of  the  town  in  relation  to  the  surround- 
ing country,  it  began  to  flourish  and  considerable  busi- 
ness to  be  done.  These  subjects  will  be  noticed  in  an- 
other place. 

The  laying  out  of  the  road  called  Federal  Street, 
from  Smead's  inn,  north,  was  an  exciting  subject  in  the 
year  1788,  and  was  very  violently  opposed  by  the  town. 
The  travel  then  went  from  the  head  of  the  village  under 
rocky  mountain.  As  late  as  1790,  petitions  for  a  lotte- 
ry for  building  a  bridge  over  Deerfield  river,  were  made 
by  this  town  and  others,  and  an  effort  in  '95  for  a  free 
bridge  there,  and  remonstrances  of  the  towns  in  this  vi- 
cinity against  the  petition  of  John  Williams  for  a  toll 
bridge. 

The  small  pox  prevailed  in  '92,  and  a  vote  is  found 
allowing  a  hospital  for  inoculation,  to  be  built,  and  in  '96, 


GREENFIELD  91 

a  house  was  licensed  for  the  purpose.  The  house  now 
occupied  by  Mr.  David  R.  Wait,  the  Hoyt  place,  was, 
among  others,  improved  for  the  purpose.  In  this  year 
also  a  petition  was  forwarded  to  the  General  Court  for 
an  act  to  incorporate  a  company,  Daniel  Wells,  Eliel 
Gilbert  and  Abner  Smead  for  the  purpose  of  bringing 
good  and  wholesome  water  into  the  "  town  street"  by 
pipes. 


1802.  In  the  year  Eighteen  hundred  and  two,  there 
occurred  in  the  village,  a  most  mortal  and  desolating 
sickness,  carrying  dismay  and  death  in  its  progress,  and 
terror  to  the  hearts  of  all. 

"  When  I  remember  all 
The  friends  so  link'd  together, 
I've  seen  around  me  fall. 
Like  leaves  in  wintry  w^eather  j 
I  feel  like  one,  who  treads  alone 

Some  banquet  hall  deserted, 
Whose  lights  are  fled,  whose  garland's  dead, 
And  all,  but  me,  departed  ! 

Thus  in  the  stilly  night, 

Ere  slumber's  chain  has  bound  me. 

Sad  mem'ry  brings  the  light 

Of  other  days  around  me." 

Truly,  then  the  hearts  of  men  failed  them  for  fear  of 
that  desolating  judgment  which  seemed  to  threaten  all, 
the  old  and  the  young  and  the  middle  aged.  The  strong 
man  bowed  before  his  sway  ;  his  strength  in  which  he 
confided,  and  of  which,  perhaps,  he  made  his  boast,  be- 
came suddenly  like  that  of  a  little  child  ;  like  the  un- 
weaned  infant ;  it  vanished  before  the  mighty  power  of 
that  Sampson  of  diseases,  the  dysentery,  which  came 
down  upon  the  peaceful  village  like  a  wolf  on  the  fold. 

''  The  Angel  of  Death  spread  his  wings  on  the  blast." 

Those  who  were  attacked  by  the  disease,  which  seem- 


92  HISTORY  OP 

ed  to  mock  at,  to  defy  the  power  of  medicine,  sooti 
became  so  weak  and  exhausted  as  to  be  careless  of 
life,  and  almost  reckless  as  to  the  issue  of  their  sickness* 
In  all  who  breathe  the  air,  both  man  and  brute,  even 
down  to  the  minutest  insect  that  sports  in  the  sunbeam, 
the  love  of  life  is  strong  and  powerful,  even  to  intensity. 
This  love  predominates  over  every  other  love.  The  fear 
of  death  is  the  greatest  of  all  fears.  Otherwise,  the  un- 
happy, the  miserable,  the  oppressed,  the  persecuted,  the 
victims  of  misrepresentation,  of  power  and  malice,  who 
constitute  a  large  portion  of  the  human  race,  would  be- 
come their  own  destroyers  oftener  than  they  now  do, 
seeking  a  relief  in  death  from  their  sorrows,  and  earth 
become  one  great  charnel  house  of  the  dead.  To  the 
future  must  be  deferred  an  understanding  of  this  riddle  of 
life,  this  constant  warfare  of  existence. 

The  stores  and  shops  were  mostly  shut  up,  the  streets 
were  deserted,  and  an  appalling  solitude  brooded  over 
them  ;  none  came  to  transact  business  unless  in  cases  of 
necessity,  for  there  were  scarce  enough  well  to  take 
care  of  the  sick,  and  other  thoughts  and  cares  than  those 
of  business  occupied  the  minds  of  men.  The  traveller 
sought  out  other  avenues  or  roads  to  pursue  his  journey, 
carefully  avoiding  to  pass  through  the  village,  for  alarm- 
ing reports  spread  far  and  wide,  that  a  contageous  dis- 
order, either  the  plague  or  the  yellow  fever,  or  something 
worse  and  more  horrible,  prevailed  here,  sweeping  off  the 
inhabitants  with  the  besom  of  destruction.  Many  who 
did  pass  through  the  village,  tied  handkerchiefs  over 
their  faces  and  took  other  precautions  to  avoid  the  con- 
tagion. Many  families  removed  from  the  village,  and 
of  those  who  remained,  many  sent  away  their  chil- 
dren, as  the  disorder  was  mortal  among  the  young. — 
One  hundred  and  one  persons  went  away  to  other  pla- 
ces in  consequence  of  the  sickness,  and  atone  period 
there  was  not  an  inhabited  house  in  the  place  where 
there  was  not  one  or  more  sick  or  dead.     Five  coffins 


GREENFIELD.  93 

wero  made  on  one  Sabbath-day  alone.  The  first  death 
occurred  July  IS,  and  the  sickness  soon  spread  into  oth- 
er parts  of  the  town.  Some  families  lost  five,  some 
three,  and  some  lost  all  their  children. — Then  was  there 
heard  the  voice  of  weeping  and  lamentation,  Rachel 
mourning  for  her  childreUv  refusing  to  be  comforted  be- 
cause they  were  not. 

The  whole  number  which  had  died,  according  to  a 
record  kept  by  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Newton,  from  July  18 
to  Sept.  20,  was  47, — whole  number  in  the  year,  of  all 
disorders,  68, — 57  of  whom  were  of  the  dysentery,  and 
nearly  all  of  them  youujj^  persons. 

Eminent  physicians  did  what  they  could  to  stay  the 
plague.  That  excellent  physician  and  estimable  man. 
Dr.  John  Stone,  the  late  Dr.  Williams  of  Deerfield,  and 
that  nobleman  of  nature,  the  late  Dr.  Henry  Wells  of 
Montague,  were  employed  ;  the  last  and  the  first  nam- 
ed, mostly.  The  sick  seemed  to  have  the  impression 
generally,  although  they  had  great  and  well  founded  con- 
fidence in  Dr.  S.,  that  they  should  certainly  recover  if 
Dr.  Wells  attended  upon  them,  so  great  was  their  rever- 
ence for  that  philanthropist.  The  writer  of  this,  then  in 
his  twelfth  year,  remembers,  as  though  it  were  of  yester- 
day, the  gentle  manners,  the  mild  and  benevolent  coun- 
tenance of  the  good  and  venerable  man,  in  his  plain  suit 
of  brown,  cut  in  the  Quaker  style. 

Aceording  to  a  statement  made  by  him  and  Dr.  Stone, 
in  the  Gazette  of  August  16,  upwards  of  ninety  had 
been  affected  with  the  disorder  up  to  the  14th,  and  there 
were  then  about  30  sick.  They  attributed  the  sick- 
ness to  a  scarcity  of  fruit,  so  necessary  in  hot  weather 
to  correct  the  bile,  and  to  a  putrid  atmosphere  occasion- 
ed by  a  great  flood  in  June,  which  left  stagnant  water  on 
the  low  lands,  which  by  the  intense  heat  of  the  weather 
became  putrid,  and  being  blown  hither  by  the  southerly 
winds  affected  the  air  so  sensibly,  as  that  its  insalubrity 
might  be  plainly  perceived  by  any  one  walking  abroad 
9 


04s  HISTORY  OP 

in  the  evening.  At  this  time — the  16th — the  wind  was 
blowing  N.  W.  the  heat  was  mitigated,  considerable 
rain  having  fallen,  most  of  the  sick  were  convalescent. 
In  1777,  a  great  sickness  prevailed  here  as  also  in  Shel- 
burne ;  the  population  was  much  less  in  both  than  at 
present.     Fifty  died  here  and  eighty  in  Shelburne. 

Stop,  mortal,  pause  and  consider !  what  is  human 
life  ?  What  is  thine  own  life?  It  is  even  as  a  vapor  which 
appeareth  for  a  little  time  and  then  vanisheth  away.  A 
bubble  on  the  stream  of  time.  That  vapor,  the  sun,  as 
soon  as  he  shall  have  arisen,  and  before  he  has  attained 
his  meridian  splendor,  shall  exhale  ;  that  bubble  shall 
soon  burst  and  be  lost  in  the  waste  of  waters.  The  ea- 
ger pursuit  of  men  after  wealth,  hurrying  to  and  fro; 
their  fraud,  avarice,  over-reaching  and  dishonesty,  are 
matter  of  special  wonder.  Look  at  them,  and — they  are 
gone.  The  places  that  knew  them,  know  them  no  more 
forever.  The  Ocean  of  Eternity  is  before  you,  inter- 
minable, vast,  boundless,  shoreless.  Where  is  your 
chart,  your  compass,  your  helm,  your  anchor  1 

^'  Soon  time  to  thee  shall  be  no  more^ 
No  more  the  sun  thy  eye  shall  view. 
Earth  o'er  thy  limbs  her  dust  shall  strew  ; 
And  life's  fantastic  dream  be  o'er." 

Fix  your  eyes  upon  the  Eternal  City,  your  heart  on 
Him  who  is  the  head-stone  of  the  corner,  who  is  without 
shadow  of  change,  and  since 

"  Jesus  has  lain  there,  dread  not  the  tomb." 

Political  Parties. — At  this  period,  the  excitement 
of  feeling  between  the  two  great  political  parties  into 
which  the  country  was  divided,  was,  perhaps,  as  great 
as  at  any  other  in  its  history.  They  were  first  called 
Federalists  and  Anti-Federalists.  The  division  arose  at 
first,  from  a  difference  of  opinion  in  regard  to  the  Con- 
stitution. The  Federalists  claim  that  they  were  in  favor 
of  it,  as  it  is.     The  Federalists  are  understood  to  have 


GREENFIELD.  95 

favored  the  views  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  an  eminect 
statesman,  who  was  supposed  to  incline  to  a  more  con- 
solidated government,  giving  more  power  to  the  Execu- 
tive and  to  Congress,  while  the  Democrats  favored  the 
more  purely  democratic  views  of  Mr.  Jefferson.  The 
leading  Federalists  were  also  charged  with  favoring 
monarchy  and  the  British  Government.  The  unpopu- 
larity of  some  of  the  measures  of  Mr.  Adams,  tended  to 
fill  the  democratic  ranks.  Some  of  the  best  and  purest 
men  in  the  country,  of  both  parlies,  suffered  abuse  from 
the  violence  of  party  rancor. 

The  party  divisions  of  the  present  day,  although  pro- 
ducing licentious  abuse  in  the  press,  do  not  so  much  as 
the  former,  encroach  upon  and  interrupt  the  kindly  inter- 
course of  society  and  the  relations  of  social  life. 

The  following  brief  table  will  show  how  the  parties 
stood  here  during  a  portion  of  the  times  alluded  to  : — 

Years.       Fed.      Dem.     Years.        Fed.     Dem. 
1801  115  5  1806  98         69 

1803  87         41         1809         128         76 

1804  87         66 

The  votes  continued  nearly  in  the  proportions  of  the 
latter  year,  until  during  the  Presidency  of  Mr.  Munroe, 
party  spirit  subsided. 

In  1808,  a  memorial  of  great  length  was  forwarded  to 
Congress  asking  a  suspension  or  repeal  of  the  Embar- 
go Law.  It  was  in  strong  and  glowing  language,  evi- 
dencing a  high  degree  of  excitement  and  alarm  at  the 
existing  state  of  the  country,  as  though  every  thing  was 
tending  to  a  state  worse  than  the  worst  despotism  ;  the 
elements  of  society  rushing  to  anarchy  and  chaos,  and 
the  bonds  which  had  hitherto  held  the  people  together 
for  mutual  aid.  and  protection,  were  about  to  be  broken 
up  and  dissolved.  This  and  others  may  be  found  on  the 
Second  Book  of  Records  of  the  town. 

N«w  CoufiTV. — The  County  was  divided  in  181 1, 


96  HISTORY   OF 

and  this  town  was  finally  fixed  upon  as  the  shire  town, 
although  a  majority  of  the  towns  were  in  favor  of  Cheap- 
side. 

Ministerial. — In  1813,  the  town,  by  a  unanimous 
vote,  concurred  with  the  church  in  inviting  Rev.  Gamal- 
iel S.  Olds,  to  settle  as  colleague  pastor  with  Mr.  New- 
ton, with  a  salary  of  $700.  Mr.  N.  relinquished  $100 
of  his  salary.     See  under  title  Ecclesiastical. 

1816.  Meeting  House. — A  committee  which  had 
been  chosen  the  previous  year,  fron^  the  different  school 
districts,  to  fix  upon  a  place  for  building  a  new  meeting 
house,  reported  in  February,  that  they  were  unable  to 
agree  by  a  majority,  upon  any  place.  Upon  a  motion 
made  to  repair  the  old  one,  the  town  was  equally  divid- 
ed. A  vote  was  then  passed  to  choose  a  committee 
from  without  the  County  to  fix  upon  a  place.  Ezra 
Starkweather,  Ebenezer  Maitoon,  Samuel  Porter,  all  of 
Hampshire  County,  were  chosen. 

The  committee  met  and  having  taken  a  view  of  the 
town,  made  a  report  dated  in  May,  fixing  upon  "  some 
part  of  one  acre  of  ground"  next  north  of  the  house  of 
Elijah  Alvord,  Esq.  as  the  place  where  the  new  meeting 
house  ought  to  be  erected.  A  subscription  was  made  by 
several  individuals,  amounting  to  $3,150,  whereby  the 
subscribers  thereto  agreed  that  if  the  town  will  accept 
the  report,  to  pay  that  sum  for  the  support  of  the  minis- 
try. 

At  a  meeting  held  June  12,  a  motion  was  made  to 
accept  the  report  on  condition  that  the  signers  of  the 
subscription  shall  secure  the  payment  of  the  sum  sub- 
scribed, which  was  negatived,  82  to  46.  A  motion  to 
build  a  new  meeting  house  was  also  negatived. 

At  a  meeting  held  in  October,  a  vote  was  obtained  de- 
claring the  proper  place  on  which  to  erect  a  new  meet- 
ing house,  to  be  between  the  house  of  Samuel  Newton 
and  Robert  Nash,  (now  of  D.  Long,  senior)  in  Silver 
street,  a  large  minority  dissenting. 


GllK£NFIliLD  ^ 

That  part  of  the  society  residing  in  the  village,  com- 
menced forming  a  new  society  or  Poll  parish,  and  peti- 
tioned for  an  act  of  incorporation  in  June  ;  signed  by 
Samuel  Wells  and  50  others,  which  was  granted. 

Under  these  circumstances  a  meeting  was  held  to  see 
if  the  people  would  "  concur  with  Mr.  Olds,  in  submit- 
ting to  a  council,  whether  it  is  expedient,  under  all  exist- 
ing circumstances  to  dissolve  his  pastoral  relation  to  the 
church  and  people."  They  concurred  in  this  and  a 
council  was  called  for  the  purpose,  of  this  council,  held 
Oct.  30,  Rev.  John  Emerson  of  Conway,  was  the  mod- 
erator, and  Rev.  J.  W.  Canning  of  Gill,  Scribe. 

The  council  say  : — "  On  inquiring  it  appears  that  this 
question  of  expediency  arose  from  an  appointment  re- 
ceived by  Mr.  0.  to  an  important  professorship  in  Mid- 
dlebury  College,  Vt.  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  peculiar 
state  of  the  church  and  society  in  G.  on  the  other,  and 
that  it  appears  from  the  records  of  the  town  book  and 
other  documents,  that  fruitless  attempts  have  been  made 
by  the  society*  to  unite  either  in  repairing  the  present 
meeting  house  where  it  now  stands,  or  in  assigning  some 
other  place  for  erecting  a  new  one  ;  that  a  portion  of  the 
society  have  already  obtained  an  order  of  notice  from  the 
Legislature  for  erecting  themselves  into  a  poll  parish  and 
the  remaining  portion  have  in  view  to  petition  to  be  in- 
corporated into  a  separate  town,  and  have  actually  ob- 
tained the  consent  of  the  town  therefor,"  &c.  &c.  The 
result  was  a  vote  that  the  connection  between  the  pastor 
and  the  society  be  dissolved.  This  took  place  accord- 
ingly. 

Division. — The  same  month  in  which  the  council 
was  held,  and  a  little  previous,  a  town  meeting  was  held 
to  see  if  the  town  would  consent  to  approbate  the  setting 

*  The  society  comprehended  the  whole  town,  or  nearly 
so,  excepting  the  Episcopal  Parish,  then  but  recently 
formed. 

9* 


^8  HISTORY    OP  / 

off  of  all  the  north,  and  west,  and  east  parts  of  the  town, 
as  far  south  as  certain  lands  owned  by  people  residing 
in  the  village  and  lying  directly  north  of  it,  so  that  a  line 
drawn  from  the  south  line  of  the  town  near  Russell  & 
Go's,  cutlery  works,  by  the  road  as  it  runs  through  the 
village  to  the  south  line  of  the  new  town,  would,  in  pla- 
ces, not  have  been  a  mile  long.  The  territory  included 
every  inhabitant  in  the  town,  not  living  in  the  village. — 
This  would  have  been  a  real  Gerrymander— a  stately 
corporation — a  smart  little  town. 

The  town  voted  that  they  give  their  consent  that  the 
territory  mentioned,  together  with  its  inhabitants,  be  set 
off  and  incorporated  Ly  the  name  of  Green  Meadow. 
-  A  petition  v/as  sent  to  the  Legislature  signed  by  Mo- 
ses Arms  and  over  one  hundred  others  for  an  act  of  in- 
corporation, which  failed  of  being  granted. 

The  summer  of  this  year  is  distinguished  in  the  an- 
nals of  New  England,  as  the  cold  summer.  There 
was  a  frost  every  jnonth  ; — few  fields  of  corn  ripened  ; 
—  this  was  the  golden  age  of  small  bills,  shin  jolasierff^ 
so  called,  some  of  which  were  as  small  as  one  sixteenth 
of  a  dollar.  All  the  small  change  had  been  picked  up 
on  a  miserably  small  speculation,  uLich  an  honorable 
man  would  despise.  He  would  as  soon  be  caught 
cheating  at  playimi  pin,  as  in  this  small  trade. 

The  winter  of  1819,  was  very  remarkable.  Lands 
were  ploughed  in  January  ;  flies  and  grasshoppers  were 
seen  abroad  ;  and  every  thing  had  the  appearance  of 
spring. 

The  summer  of  1820,  is  memorable  as  being  remark- 
ably dry.  In  May,  from  the  11th,  it  rained  for  twenty 
successive  days,  with  scarce  the  intermission  of  a  day. 
June,  July  and  August  were  remarkably  dry  months, 
and  a  great  drowth  prevailed  through  the  country.  The 
grasshoppers  became  a  burthen,  devouring  the  fruits  of 
the  earth,  eating  even  the  standing  corn.  In  several  of 
the  hill  towns,  it  became  necessary  to  feed  cattle  with 
hay  to  preserve  them  alive. 


GREENFIELD*  99 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Ecclesiastical  History. 

*'  In  the  first  settlement  of  New  England,  when  the 
people  judged  their  number  competent  to  maintain  a 
minister,  they  then  surely  seated  themselves,  and  not  be- 
fore; it  being  as  unnatural  for  a  right  New  England  man 
to  live  without  an  able  ministry,  as  for  a  smith  to  work 
his  iron  without  fire." — Johnson. 

For  the  little  that  is  to  be  known  of  the  early  days  of 
the  church  in  this  town,  we  are  indebted  to  tradition  and 
scanty  gleanings  from  the  town  records.  Previous  to 
the  incorporation  of  the  town,  in  one  instance,  perhaps 
in  more,  a  small  sum  had  been  voted  by  the  parent  town, 
to  the  Green  river  people,  as  they  were  called,  which 
they  had  liberty  to  apply  to  the  "  support  of  preaching  or 
for  a  school."  What  the  number  of  inhabitants  was,  at 
the  lime  of  the  passing  this  vote,  we  have  no  means  of 
ascertaining,  known  to  us,  yet  it  must  have  been  small, 
since,  in  1763,  ten  years  after  incorporation,  the  town, 
including;  Gill,  contained  but  three  hundred  and  sixty- 
eight.  But,  as  appears  by  the  records,  they  inuncdiate- 
\y  set  themselves  in  good  earnest  about  the  work  of  set- 
tling a  minister. 

In  two  months  after  their  incorporation,  and  at  their 
second  meeting,  Aug.  7,  1753,  the  following  vote  was 
passed  : — 

"  Voted  that  the  16th  day  of  this  instant  be  set  apart 
and  kept  by  us  as  a  day  of  prayer  and  fasting  and  yt  the 
Rev.  Jonathan  Ashley  of  Deerfield,  Joseph  Ashley  of 
Sunderland,  Mr.  Abercrombie  of  Pelham,  be  invited  to 
assist  us  in  the  work  of  the  day,  and  give  their  advice 
for  some  meet  person  to  settle  in  the  work  of  the  minis- 
try among  us." 


100  HISTORY   05 

Benjamin  Hastings,  Edward  Allen,  and  Timothy 
Childs,  "  were  chosen  a  committee  to  invite  and  desire 
the  ministers  to  come  and  assist  us." 

At  another  meeting,  Aug.  20,  a  new  committee  was 
chosen  to  take  the  advice  or  approbation  of  the  above 
mentioned  clergymen,  together  with  Mr.  Jona  Edwards 
of  Stockbridge,  Hopkins  of  Sheffield,  Williams  of  Long 
Meadow,  with  respect  to  the  Quallijicaiions  or  Jiitness  of 
Rev.  Mr.  Edward  Billings,  for  the  work  of  the  ministry 
in  Greenfield." 

Mr.  B.  had  been  previously  settled  in  Belchertown. 
The  cause  of  his  dismissal  is  not  now  known.  He  is 
supposed  to  have  been  a  native  of  Sunderland  and  a 
graduate  of  Harvard  College.  His  settlement  took 
place  immediately  after  the  last  mentioned  vote.  The 
town  voted  him  a  settlement  of  j£600,  old  tenor,  with  a 
salary  of  £300,  for  the  first  year,  to  increase  £25  each 
year,  until  it  should  amount  to  £400,  and  also  his  fire 
wood.  He  resided  at  a  place  called  Stocking  fort, 
where  Mr.  Abner  Wells  now  lives.  This  house  was 
picketted  for  defence,  and  soldiers  were  stationed  there 
in  the  time  of  the  Indian  wars.  He  died  within  a  few 
years  after  his  settlement.  His  brief  answer  to  the  call 
given  him  to  settle  here,  follows  : — 

"  To  the  inhabitants  of  Greenfield  : — I  have  taken 
into  consideration  your  call -of  me  to  settle  as  minister  of 
the  Gospel  among  you,  and  thereupon  determine  to  ac- 
cept of  it,  though  there  be  some  circumstances  attend- 
ing my  settlement  among  you  that  are  far  from  being 
pleasing.  I  wish  you  may  be  directed  by  God  in  man- 
aging the  important  aflfliir  of  settling  the  gospel  ministry, 
and  that  I  may  be  interested  in  your  prayers,  that  when 
I  come  to  you,  I  may  come  in  the  fulness  of  the  bles- 
sing of  the  Gospel.  Your  friend  and  servant, 

Edward  Billing. 

November  5th,  1763." 


GREENFIELD.  101 

Benjamin  Hastings  was  the  first,  and  for  many  years, 
the  only  deacon. 

The  settlement  of  Mr.  Billings  was  attended  with 
some  difliculties.  A  difierence  of  opinion  existed  among 
the  clergy  about  terms  of  communion.  There  were  two 
classes  or  schools  in  divinity,  existing  at  that  day,  one  of 
which  was  known  as  the  Edwards  school,  to  which  Mr. 
B.  belonged.  Mr.  Ashley  of  Deerfield,  was  of  the  op- 
posite school,  consequently  opposed  to  his  ordination. — 
Mr.  B.  took  care  that  clergymen  of  his  own  school, 
among  whom  was  Mr.  Hall  of  Sutton,  were  called  to 
set  in  the  council.  Mr.  Ashley  was  of  the  council  and 
took  with  him  half  a  dozen  delegates,  in  order  to  out- 
vote the  Edwards  men.  The  council,  however,  insisted 
on  voting  by  churches,  and  not  per  capita,  (heads) 
and  Mr.  B.  was  ordained. 

Mr.  B.  was  dismissed  from  his  pastoral  charge  at 
Cold  Spring,  (Belchertown)  in  April,  1752.  lie  after- 
wards preached  for  a  time  at  a  place  called  Nine 
Partners,  in  New  York.  He  is  said  to  have  been 
a  worthy  man  and  of  good  talents.  Nothing  more  ap- 
pears upon  the  records  in  relation  to  him,  excepting  in 
1759,  the  appointment  of  a  committee  to  "  look  into  ye 
affair  of  Mr.  Billings'  settlement." 

Note. — Old  tenor  has  been  mentioned.  At  a  period 
near  the  year  1690,  an  emission  of  paper  was  made  in 
this  State  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  expedition  against 
Quebec.  As  the  bills  were  not  redeemed  except  by  new 
emissions,  their  value  fell  rapidly  'till  the  depreciation 
eventually  was  as  7  1-2  to  1,  in  specie.  This  is  old  ten- 
or. In  1750,  the  sum  of  £180,000  sterling  paid  to 
the  colony  to  defray  certain  military  expenses  was  de- 
voted to  redeeming  these  bills.  They  had  fallen  so  low 
at  this  time  that  the  180,000  redeemed  1,980,000 — eleven 
for  one.  The  same  precious  system  of  flooding  the 
country  with  bills,  is  now  in  vogue. — Hist.  Bernards- 
ton. 


102  BISTORT   OF 

Mr.  Billing  was  in  adversity.  Men  of  sordid  and 
grovelling  minds,  infer  from  it  a  want  of  merit  and  of 
every  virtue.  Under  such  circumstances  men  essay  to 
pluck  us,  even  as  a  pigeon  is  plucked  by  a  hungry  hawk. 
Thankful  may  we  all  be,  that  we  are  not  to  be  judged  of 
man's  judgment.  The  poor  should  remember,  that  al- 
though they  suffer  many  privations,  the  rich  have  a  coun- 
ter balancing  weight  of  cares. 

Adversity,  thy  tooth  is  keen.  Sunshine  friends  de- 
sert men  under  its  influence  ;  the  frost  nips  them  like 
butterfles,  and  they  are  worthless.  "  Disguise  thyself 
as  thou  wilt,  poverty,  still  thou  art  a  bitter  draught,  and 
though  thousands  in  all  ages  have  been  made  to  drink  of 
thee,  thou  art  none  the  less  bitter  on  that  account."  Our 
happiness  however  is  more  in  our  own  power  than  many 

The  following  bill  will  furnish  an  explanation  of  the 
subject  : — 

Boston,  July  2Sd,  1768. 
The  Province  of  Massachusetts  to  Thomas  Williston  Dr. 
For  sundries  bought  for  use  of  the  gentlemen  Select- 
men, in  going  down  to  Rainsford  Island. 

Rump  of  Beef  and  pieces  to  roast. 

Two  Tongues, 

Cucumbers,  Mustard,  Salt  and  Meal, 

Bread  and  Biscuit, 

Lemons,  hundred  and  a  half. 

Two  bottles  of  Claret  and  Cider, 

Pipes  and  Tobacco, 

Butter,  Pork  and  Fat, 

Onions  and  Pepper, 

Sweet  Marjoram  and  Twine, 

Cheese  and  Cayenne, 

Spirit, 

For  Roasting  the  Beef,  and  Charcoal, 

Old  Tenor, 

Lawful  Money,  ;5    5    7 


I     s 

d 

5     0 

0 

1   10 

0 

1     4 

0 

2  15 

0 

15     0 

0 

4  15 

0 

1     0 

0 

2  10 

0 

0  11 

0 

0     4 

0 

1   18 

0 

3     0 

0 

1     5 

0 

m  12 

0 

GREENFIELD.  103 

believe  ;  the  state  of  the  mind  is  the  criterion  of  happi- 
ness or  the  reverse,  and  there  is  scarce  any  condition  in 
life  from  which  comfort  and  a  degree  of  happiness  may 
not  be  derived,  if  we  exercise  the  reason  which  our  Ma- 
ker has  given  us.  'Tis  not  to  the  possessor  of  millions  that 
happiness  is  ensured — that  depends  upon  the  constitution 
of  the  mind.  Reader,  pause,  ponder  these  things,  and 
be  not  such  a  fool  as  to  be  miserable  because  others 
would  have,  or  think  you  so — in  short,  let  the  trials  and 
troubles  of  life  make  you  a  philosopher.     Sufficient  for 

Boston,  February  1,  1769.  We  the  subscribers  here- 
by certify,  that  the  above  Account  is  right  cast,  arid  the 
charge  according  to  agreement,  the  whole  amounting  to 
five  pounds  five  shillings  and  seven  pence. 

JOSHUA  HENSHAW, 
JOSEPH  JACKSON, 
JOHN  RUDDOCK, 
JOHN  HANCOCK, 
HENDERSON  INCHES,] 

The  Hon.  House  of  Representatives  to 


To  111  Bottles  Madeira  Wine,  34s, 
To  18  Bottles  Lisbon  Wine,  22s  6d, 
To  70  Bowls  Punch, 
To  Bread,  Cheese, 
To  Breakage, 

Old  Tenor, 
Punch  and  Wine, 


Is  Lawful  Money,  Z42    1     2 

Boston,  5th  June,  1769.     Errors  excepted. 

CORD  CORDIS. 


^ 

Selectmen 

/ 

► 

Df 

Boston 

^ 

rd 

Cordis 

Dr 

I 

s 

d 

188 

14 

0 

20 

5 

0 

70 

0 

0 

20 

0 

0 

7 

10 

0 

7306 

9 

0 

9 

0 

0 

/315 

9 

0 

i04  HISTORY  or 

the  day  is  the  evil,  without  your  making  it  worse  by  re- 
pining and  complaint. 

The  greatest  of  poets  has  said — 

"  Sweet  are  the  uses  of  adversity, 
Which  like  the  toad,  ugly  and  venomous, 
Hath  yet  a  precious  jewel  in  its  head." 

This  jewel  is  the  eye.  He  who  will  condescend  to 
stoop  and  examine  the  eye  of  the  toad,  will  find  it  of 
surpassing  beauty,  yet  is  the  animal  otherwise  ugly  and 
loathsome  to  the  last  degree. 

"  Vain,  very  vain,  our  weary  search  to  find, 
That  bliss  which  only  centers  in  the  mind." 

Domestic  afflictions  assailed  Mr.  B.  and  shortened 
his  pilgrimage.  The  rich  in  this  world's  goods  do  not 
escape  from  cares.  If  they  come  not  early,  they  come 
lafe  ;  their  visitations  are  as  sure  and  certain  as  death, 
who,  equo  2^ecle  jmlsat,  and  with  equal  certainty  knocks 
at  the  cottage  of  the  peasant  and  the  turrets  of  Kings. 

''  If  misfortune  comes  to  breakfast  with  you  she  gen- 
erally comes  to  dine  and  sup." 

Adversity  has  no  charms  to  lure  men  to  her  embrace  ; 
she  is  shuniTed  as  a  destroying  pestilence  ;  her  breath 
parches  and  dries  up  the  fountains  of  life  like  the  Siroc- 
co of  the  desert ;  her  touch  is  withering  and  all  around 
her  abode  is  desolation  and  death  ;  none  willingly  come 
to  the  entering  in  of  her  doors,  all  shun  her  haunted, 
hated  shades,  as  they  would  a  gathering  storm. 

But  the  breath  of  prosperity  comes  like  the  spicy  gales 
of  India  or  "  Araby  the  blest ;"  an  endless  summer 
smiles  upon  her  coasts  ;  all  men  rise  up  and  call  her 
blessed  ;  her  voice  is  like  the  voice  of  spring—-the  voice 
of  the  charmer,  haply  it  may  not  prove  like  the  songs  of 
the  Syrens,  to  the  followers  of  Ulysses. 

It  is  no  great  affair  that  a  man  should  discharge  hia 
duties,  and  fulfil  all  his  obligations,  while  the  gale  of 
prosperity  fills  his  sails,  and  every  gale  wafts  him  steadi- 


GREENFIIULD.  105 

\y  and  swiftly  to  the  wished  for  haven  of  prosperity  and 
ease.  Touch  him  with  the  rod  of  adversity,  (not  that 
rod  which  converts  every  thing  it  touches  into  gold,)  let 
the  winds  veer  and  shift,  and  blow  a  hurricane, 

"  Amazement  confronts  him  with  images  dire, 

Wild  winds  and  mad  waves  drive  his  vessel  a  wreck  j" 

and  if  his  nerves  are  made  of  steel,  and  his  heart  of 
sheet  iron,  or  as  hard  as  the  neither  mill  stone,  he  may 
feel  and  do  as  other  men  do. 

Perhaps,  reader,  you  are  one  of  those  who  congratu- 
late themselves  upon  their  own  superior  good  fortune, 
judgment  and  success  in  life,  and  look  with  contempt 
upon  their  less  successful  neighbors  for  their  want  of  ca- 
pacity. Who  maketh  us  to  differ  ?  Mayhap  you  are  one 
of  those  who  are  hard,  miserly  and  unconscionable  in 
their  dealings  ;  oppressive  and  grinding,  taking  every 
advantage  of  the  simple  and  unwary ;  disregarding  the 
cry  of  the  poor,  the  fatherless  and  the  widow  ;  grap- 
pling estates  by  wrong,  and  exacting  like  the  Jew,  the 
pound  of  flesh,  from  the  living  and  quivering  limb.  Be- 
gone to  repentance  and  prayer  !  for  a  day  of  retribution 
shall  as  surely  come,  as  time  shall  be  lost  in  eternity, 
and  a  just,  but  merciful  Judge,  rules  over  all,  and  be  as- 
sured that  neither  an  affected  zeal  for  religion,  nor  the 
building  of  temples  can  shield  from  the  keen  tooth  of 
remorse  and  the  eye  of  the  Eternal. 

The  precise  time  of  the  death  of  Mr.  Billing. is  not 
known,  but  it  occurred  within  a  few  years  after  his  set- 
tlement. He  was  buried  in  the  Old  Burial  Ground, 
but  no  stone  marks  the  spot. 


"  Mine  be  the  breezy  hill  that  skirts  the  down, 

Where  a  green  grassy  turf  is  all  I  crave, 

With  here  and  there  a  violet  bestrewn, 

And  many  an  evening  sun  shine  sweetly  on  my  grave.^' 

From  the  brow  of  the  hill  at  this  burial  ground, 
10 


106  HISTORY   OF 

just  in  rear  of  Col.  Root's,  is  to  be  found  one  of  the 
most  pleasant  and  picturesque  prospects  in  this  part  of 
the  country,  and  worthy  the  pencil  of  an  artist.  The 
eye  here  takes  in  a  view  of  the  sloping  mountains  of 
Shelburn,  Deerfield  and  Sunderland,  and  the  romantic 
rocky  ridge  bordering  the  village  on  the  east;  the  rich 
meadows  below  and  on  the  river ;  parts  of  those  at 
Deerfield ;  the  scattered  houses  in  the  hamlet  of 
Charleston,  with  its  stone  jail,  princely  jail  house  and 
neat  grounds  ;  the  old  mill ;  to  the  left  the  buildings  of 
the  High  School,  and  the  lofty  spire  of  the  house  of 
prayer ;  down  the  valley  the  cutlery  works  of  Russell  & 
Co.  (success  to  their  enterprise) ;  the  windings  of  Green 
river  and  the  evergreen  hill  beyond,  and  minor  objects. 

'^And  forest  and  meadow  and  slope  of  hill. 
Around  thee  are  lonely  and  lovely  and  still. 
Oh  loveliest  there  the  spring  days  come. 
With  blossoms  and  birds  and  v^^ildbees  hum, 
The  flowers  of  summer  are  fairest  there, 
And  freshest  the  breath  of  summer  air." 
• 
Around  in  their  chambers  of  decay,  repose  the  re- 
mains of  some  of  the  first  settlers,  the  bones  of  the  fa- 
thers, those  hardy   and  stern  men,  in  their  last,  long 
sleep  ;  not  to  be  raised  till  the  last  trump  : 

"  Each  in  his  narrow  cell  forever  laid, 
The  rude  forefathers  of  the  hamlet  sleep," 

and  the  infant,  in  the  smiles  of  his  innocent  beauty,  cut 
off. 

The  ground  has  been  inclosed  but  a  few  years,  pre- 
viously lying  in  common  with  the  lands  around  it.  It 
contains,  perhaps,  one  third  of  an  acre,  and  compara- 
tively few  monuments.  Few  or  none  are  found  of  an 
earlier  date  than  1756.  Some  are  of  a  dark  red  color; 
others  of  a  peculiar  grey  stone,  slate,  and  a  few  marble. 
Few  bodies  have  been  deposited  there  since  1803,  when, 
as  I  think,  several  were  taken  up  to  be  placed  in  the 


GREENFIELD.  107 

new  yard.  Having  a  brother  and  sister  removed  at  the 
time,  I  was  present  at  the  disinterment,  and  the  coffins 
were  opened,  as  a  lesson  for  the  living.  Such  it  was  ; 
and  of  those  who  witnessed  it,  probably  not  one  has 
since  desired  to  look  upon  its  like,  for  the  impression 
made  by  looking  on  these  remnants  of  humanity,  in  their 
various  stages  of  decay,  will  last  during  life,  to  one  at 
least.  But  "  to  this  complexion  all  must  come  at  last.'* 
A  few  years  since,  a  beautiful  grove  of  stately  oaks  cov- 
ered the  southern  declivity  of  the  hill  adjoining  this 
ground.  Their  appearance,  to  those  coming  from  the 
south,  was  very  beautiful,  and  their  location  very  appro- 
priate. What  more  fitting  place  than  this  could  have 
been  chosen  for  the  long  repose  and  resting  place  of  the 
dead,  in  that  shady  covert  which  once  surrounded  its 
hallowed  ground.  It  is  still  a  very  beautiful  spot,  al- 
though much  which  rendered  it  peculiarly  inviting,  is 
lost  by  the  removal  of  the  old  oaks.  By  frequent  visits 
to  these  homes  of  the  dead,  the  impression  they  are  nat- 
urally calculated  to  make  is  in  some  degree  lessened,  yet 
the  heart  is  made  better,  and  the  vanity  of  human  hopes 
and  human  life  is  strikingly  illustrated.  Go,  ye  proud 
and  supercilious  and  haughty  sons  of  vanity  and  look 
upon  your  home. 

In  imagination  we  are  carried  back  to  the  times  of 
these  hardy  pilgrims  who  settled  around  this  spot,  and 
realize  their  privations  and  toils,  on  a  new  and  almost 
barren  soil,  and  their  continual  exposure  to  the  incur- 
sions of  the  natives. 

*'  Oft  did  the  harvest  to  their  sickle  yield, 
Their  furrow  oft  the  stubborn  glebe  hath  broke. 
How  bowed  the  woods  beneath  their  sturdy  stroke." 

Reader,  have  you  become  weary  of  the  toils,  anxie- 
ties and  disappointments  of  life ;  of  poverty,  privation 
and  dependence ;  is  life  a  burthen  to  your  wearied  spirit; 
are  you  a  shipwrecked  wanderer,  misfortune's  mark ; 


108^  HiSTOHY   OF 

are  the  corroding  cares  of  life  too  much  for  your  forti- 
tude, daily  wasting  the  well  spring  of  life  and  hope  ;  have 
you  been  "  left  to  cold  neglect  and  penury  and  scorn," 
to  the  oppression  of  enemies  who  have  trodden  you  to 
the  earth  ;  have  you  fallen  a  victim  to  appease  the  ill 
feelings  of  a  few  who  sought  to  destroy  an  honest  repu- 
tation ;  be  patient ;  in  a  few  days  such  clods  as  these 
shall  cover  you  ;  here  is  a  quiet  resting  place.  See  to 
it  that  the  miseries  of  the  present,  extend  not  to  a  future 
life  ;  there  is  enough  here. 

"  The  dead  reign  here  alone,  all  that  breathe 

Will  share  thy  destiny;  The  gay  will  laugh 

When  thou  art  gone,  the  brood  of  care  plod  on, 

All  shall  leave  their  mirth,  and  their  employments, 

And  make  their  bed  with  thee.     Thou  shalt  lie  down 

With  patriarchs  of  the  infant  world — with  kings. 

Earth  that  nourished  thee  shall  claim  thy  growth. 

To  be  resolved  to  earth,  to  mix  forever  with  the  elements. 

As  the  long  train  of  ages  glide  away,  the  sons  of  men. 

Shall  one  by  one  be  gathered  to  thy  side. 

By  those  who  in  their  turn  shall  follow  them." 

A  call  to  settle  was  given  to  Mr.  Bulkley  Oicott  in 
Dec.  1760,  with  a  salary  of  £66,  13.  4.  for  the  first 
year,  to  rise  i2 1.  6.  8.  a  year  till  it  amounted  to  £80, 
and  a  committee  appointed  to  get  subscriptions  for  a  set- 
tlement. Nothing  further  appears  upon  the  records 
concerning  him,  and  as  he  was  not  settled  here,  the  in- 
ference is  that  the  call  was  not  accepted. 

In  August,  1761,  the  town  voted  unanimously  to  give 
"  Mr.  Roger  Newton  a  call  to  settle  in  the  work  of  (he 
ministry,  and  to  give  him  as  an  encouragement  to  settle 
among  us,  £133.  6.  8.  as  settlement,  and  £66.  3.  4.  as 
sallary,  and  to  rise  £1.  6.  8.  a  year  till  it  amounts  to 
£80."  At  a  subsequent  meeting  in  Sept.  it  was  voted 
to  give  him  sixty  cords  of  wood  yearly,  in  addition  to  his 
salary.  Compared  to  the  amount  paid  at  this  day,  the 
salary  appears  very  small,  and  for  an  individual,  the 


GREENFIELD.  109 

quantity  of  wood  very  large.  The  wants  of  life,  in  tho 
then  plain  style  of  living  were  small,  as  the  real  wanta 
now  are.  Ileuses  were  not  so  carefully  sealed  up  and 
guarded  against  cold  as  now,  and  stoves  were  not  in 
use.  Frugal  habits  distinguished  the  people  of  the  olden 
times. 

There  were  differences  of  opinion  existing  in  the 
church  respecting  terms  of  communion,  of  the  precise 
nature  and  extent  of  which  we  are  not  informed.  Some- 
thing may  be  inferred  respecting  them  from  the  follow- 
ing, which  is  his  answer  to  the  call : — 

»*  Gentlemen — I  take  this  opportunity  to  acknowl- 
edge your  favors  in  manifesting  such  an  esteem  of  my 
labors  among  you  that  you  have  so  unanimously  invited 
me  to  settle  with  you  in  the  work  of  the  ministry  and 
have  according  to  your  ability  been  liberal  in  your  offers 
to  me.  Your  affections  manifested  to  me  from  time  to 
time,  inclines  me  to  settle  amongst  you,  hoping  I  may  be 
serviceable  to  your  spiritual  welfare,  relying  on  your 
abiding  in  your  good  opinion  of  me,  and  esteem  of  my 
labors  so  long  as  I  am  faithful  in  the  work  of  the  minis- 
try, and  depending  upon  your  catholic  sentiments  with 
regard  to  them  who  differ  from  you  about  terms  of  com- 
munion— that  there  be  no  contention,  provided  no 
scandalously  ignorant  or  immoral  persons  are  admitted 
to  your  communion,  that  all  persons  of  competent  knowl- 
edge and  sober  lives  be  allowed  to  come  to  ye  commun- 
ion who  think  it  their  duty  to  come  to  the  ordinances  of 
the  Lord's  table,  and  it  is  upon  this  proposal  I  accept 
your  invitation  and  desire  to  give  myself  to  the  service  of 
your  souls  in  the  work  of  the  ministry,  humbly  depend- 
ing upon  the  grace  and  strength  of  Christ,  that  I  may  be 
faithful,  requesting  an  interest  in  your  prayers  that  I  m^y 
save  myself  and  them  that  hear  me." 

He  was  settled  Nov.  18,  1761.  He  was  a  native  of 
Durham,  Conn.  His  religious  character  ivas  far  from 
that  of  the  bigot,  partizan  or  zealot.  He  possessed 
10* 


110  HISTORY    OF 

great  mildness  and  equanimity  of  temper  and  manners  ; 
always  dignified,  and  appeared  among  his  people  like  a 
kind  father  among  his  children.  The  single  circumstance 
that  the  town  enjoyed  peace  and  union  for  nearly  the 
whole  period  of  his  ministry,  fifty-six  years,  is  of  itself, 
strong  evidence  of  his  virtue  and  prudence.  Fifty-six 
years  !  Start  not  reader,  at  the  almost  incredible  differ- 
ence between  that  day  and  ours.  What  a  text  for  com- 
mentary !  Since  he  fell  asleep,  things  have  not  remain- 
ed the  same,  inasmuch  as  there  is  a  wide  difference  be- 
tween a  town,  itself  forming  one  parish  only,  and  the 
same  town  cut  up  into  five.  It  has  been  suggested  by 
some,  that  if  he  had  preached  the  distinguishing  doc- 
trines of  either  of  the  opposite  sects  to  the  extent  which 
either  might  claim  that  he  ought  to  do,  the  people  would 
not  have  been  so  long  united  ;  that  what  was  gained  for 
peace  was  lost  to  doctrine  and  to  duty.  It  is  not  the 
province  of  the  writer  to  say  what  he  should  have  done, 
or  to  speculate  upon  what  might  have  been  the  resuUs 
of  any  particular  course,  but  simply  to  narrate  facts  so 
far  as  "  they  come  to  his  knowledge."  His  sermons 
were  chiefly  practical. 

He  was  visited  with  severe  domestic  afliliction  in  the 
loss  of  a  son  of  great  promise,  who  died  in  1789,  at  the 
age  of  27,  He  was  then  a  Tutor  in  Yale  College. — 
The  following  is  a  part  of  the  inscription  upon  his  grave 
stone :  — 

"  Having  eminently  distinguished  himself  in  the  course 
of  a  short  life,  for  his  filial  obedience,  love  of  science, 
virtue  and  mankind."  Another  son  followed  many 
years  after  in  1815,  who  was  a  man  of  talents  and  orig- 
inal mind.  Madame  Newton  was  removed  from  the 
cares  of  earth  in  1805,  and  was  what  a  clergyman's 
wife,  and  what  every  other  woman  should  be,  a  good 
woman,  dignified  and  benevolent. 

He  died  Dec.  1816,  aged  80.  A  sermon  was 
preached  at  his  funeral  by  his  friend  Dr.  Lyman  of  Hat- 


GREENFIELD.  Ill 

field,  from  Heb.  vii.  23.  He  was  gathered  lo  the  grave, 
lo  use  the  beautiful  passage  of  scripture  so  often  used 
by  him  in  his  prayers,  "  like  a  shock  of  corn  fully  ripe." 
His  moderation  of  manner,  conciseness  and  perspicuity 
of  style;  the  sound  sense  of  his  sermons  and  their  par- 
ticular brevity  in  cold  weather,  (meeting  houses  had  no 
stoves  in  those  days)  as  well  as  the  dignified  and  vener- 
able form  of  the  good  man  are  still  fresh  in  the  memory 
of  many.  Consummate  prudence,  caution  and  shrewd- 
ness, were  distinguishing  traits  in  his  character.  His 
prayers  in  public  worship  had  much  of  sameness  and 
formality,  yet  no  one  found  fault  therev/ith ;  they  vvero 
seldom  varied  except  on  particular  occasions,  yet  was  he 
always  pertinent,  and  on  many  occasions  remarkably  so. 
In  his  latter  days  he  very  frequently  read,  for  the  choir 
to  sing,  the  Pslam  of  Watts,  commencing, 

"  Now  to  the  Lord,  a  noble  song," 

the  reading  of  which  always  affected  him  to  tears. 
Doubtless  he  had  his  failings  ;  whatever  they  might 
have  been,  and  reader,  whatever  may  be  our  wanderings, 
may  we  hope  that  the  "  Recording  Angel  may  drop  a 
tear  upon  them  and  blot  them  out  forever."  In  order 
for  this,  we  must  do  better  than  we  have  done  ;  rely  as 
he  did  upon  that  volume  which  contains  the  high  and 
holy  hopes  of  the  Christian,  which  despite  the  scoffs  and 
sneers  of  infidels  and  fools,  must  stand  acknowledged 
while  the  world  shall  stand,  the  chart  and  compass  of 
man's  salvation. 

The  clergy  as  a  body  were  more  reverenced  and  re- 
spected in  those  times  than  at  present,  nor  is  this  de- 
cline in  public  sentiment  by  any  means  favorable  to  pub- 
lic and  private  order  and  virtue,  to  morality  or  religion. 
How  sweet,  how  purifying  and  healthful  to  society  is  the 
example  and  influence  of  a  good  and  pious,  discreet, 
peace-making  clergyman,  who  loves  his  people  and  is 
beloved  by  them  ;    how  interesting  the  tie  ;  *'  like  the 


112  HISTORY  ar 

shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land,  like  a  beam  of 
the  East  arising  in  a  land  unknown." 

He  was  married  in  August  1762,  to  Abigail  Hall,  (sis- 
ter of  late  Timothy  Hall,)  of  Middletown,  Conn.     He 
was  then  25 — she  23.     Their  children  were — 
Roger,        born  July  2,  1763,      died      April  10,  1789. 
Isaac,            *»     March  16,  1765,  "        May  4,  1766. 
Isaac,            "     Sept.  16,  1767,     "        Dec.  2,  1768. 
Abigail,         *'     June  9,  1771,  married  Rev. Lam- 
bert, now  of  Lyme.  N.  H. 
Susanna,    born  Oct.  6,  1773,  died  Sept.  12,  1777. 
Ozias  Hall,  *'    April  1,  1775,  married  Hannah  Smead, 

he  died  April  8,  1815. 
Isaac,  born  July  12,  1777. 

Susanna,  born  April,  15,  1779,  married  Proctor  Pierce, 
late  of  Boston. 

Oct.  3,  1802  PoFESsioN  OF  Faith.  Lord's  Day. 
— "  The  following  profession  of  faith  was  voted  by  the 
church  to  be  in  use  for  the  future  in  lieu  of  the  one  for- 
merly used  and  that  those  who  publicly  make  this  pro- 
fession shall  be  received  into  Christian  communion  with- 
out making  any  other  confession  for  past  sins  than  what 
is  implied  herein."  (what  the  former  was  I  have  not 
been  able  to  ascertain.) 

"  Professing  a  firm  belief  in  revealed  religion,  and 
that  the  Holy  Scriptures  which  contain  it  were  given  by 
inspiration  of  God  and  resolving  to  take  them  for  your 
rule  of  faith  and  practice,  you  do  now  say,  or  as  you 
know  your  own  heart,  solemnly  avouch  and  choose  the 
Lord  Jehovah,  the  only  living  and  true  God,  to  be  your 
God  and  portion.  In  particular,  you  do  take  God  the 
Father  to  be  your  Father  in  Heaven  ;  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  to  be  your  Mediator  and  Savior; 
the  Holy  Ghost  to  be  your  scanctifier  and  guide. 

"  Being  sensible  that  in  many  things  you  have  offended 
by  transgressing  the  law  of  God,  you  do  now  with  peni- 


GREENFIELD  113 

tence  for  your  sins  humbly  implore  his  forgiving  mercy, 
and  the  aid  of  his  grace  to  enable  you  henceforth  to  walk 
before  God  in  love  and  in  all  holy  conversation  and 
godliness. 

"Convinced  of  the  importance  of  early  instruction  in 
virtue  and  piety,  you  now  promise  that  you  will  consci- 
entiously endeavor  to  train  all  such  as  are  or  may  be 
committed  to  your  care,  agreeably  to  the  prescriptions 
of  God's  Holy  Word.  You  do  also  covenant  with  this 
Church  of  Christ,  and  promise  that  you  will  attend  on 
the  ministration  of  the  word  and  ordinances  and  submit 
to  the  Christian  watch,  discipline  and  regulations  of  this 
Church,  so  long  as  God  shall  continue  your  life  and 
abode  with  us.  All  this  you  profess  and  promise  in  the 
presence  of  the  all  seeing  God,  and  engage  by  the  help 
of  his  spirit  and  Grace  to  live  agreeably  to  the  same." 

The  settlement  of  Mr.  Olds,  in  1813,  as  colleague 
with  Dr.  Newton,  has  been  mentioned  in  the  last  chap- 
ter among  the  doings  of  the  town.  It  might,  perhaps, 
more  properly  have  been  placed  under  this  head.  Mr. 
Olds  was  a  native  of  Marlboro',  Vt.,  a  graduate  of 
Williams  College,  and  had  been  a  Professor  there.  At 
the  first  attempt  to  settle  him  here,  a  difficulty  occurred 
among  the  clergy  composing  the  council.  Rev.  Samu- 
el Willard  of  Deerfield,  a  Unitarian,  was  among  the 
members,  some  of  whom  objected  to  proceeding,  consid- 
ering that  it  would  constitute  an  act  of  fellowship  with 
him.  The  council  ultimately  dissolved  without  doing 
the  business  for  which  they  came  together.  Another 
council,  called  soon  after,  proceeded  to  ordain  Mr.  0. 
The  occasion  of  his  dismission  has  been  already  men- 
tioned. 

Rev.  Sylvester  Woodbridge  of  Southampton,  a  grad- 
uate of  Williams  college,  was  ordained  over  the  society 
in  April,  1817.  Ordaining  clergy,  Revs.  Theophilus 
Packard,  J.  W.  Canning,    Samuel  Taggart,   Vinson 


114  HISTORY   OF 

Gould.  Sermon  by  Rev.  John  Woodbridge.  He  was 
dismissed  in  1823,  at  his  own  request. 

After  his  dismissal,  the  society  had  for  some  time  the 
services  of  Rev.  Lincoln  Ripley  from  the  State  of  Maine, 
and  of  Rev.  Eben  Halping  of  Vermont. 

Rev.  Amariah  Chandler,  the  present  minister,  for- 
merly minister  of  Waitsfield,  Yt.  was  ordained  their  pas- 
tor in  1832.  Mr.  C.  is  a  native  of  Deerfield,  and  a 
graduate  of  Burlington  college,  Vt. 

The  ancient  edifice,  (the  old  meeting  house)  where 
the  fathers  had  so  long  convened,  was  unceremoniously 
taken  down  in  1831 — not  to  give  place  to  another  on 
that  bleak  and  barren  old  common,  Trap  Plain,  where  it 
had  resisted  the  winds  and  storms  of  three  fourths  of  a 
century,  but  to  a  handsome  brick  edifice  on  a  kindlier 
spot,  near  Nash's  mills,  on  the  banks  of  Green  river, 
(Piconriegan)  end  on  the  borders  of  fine  meadows,  and  a 
settlement  of  as  intelligent  lords  of  the  soil  as  are  to  be 
found  any  where,  or  "  as  the  sun  in  his  circuit  shall  see." 

Second  Congregational  Society. — This  society 
was  formed  in  1816,  and  met  for  a  time  at  the  eourt 
house.  Their  meeting  house  was  erected  in  1818-19. 
They  had,  for  a  considerable  time,  the  services  of  Rev. 
Dan  Huntington  of  Hadley.  Rev.  Charles  Jenkins 
of  Barre,  a  graduate  of  Williams  college,  was  ordained 
their  minister  May  9,  1820.  Ordaining  clergy — Revs. 
Nathan  Perkins,  T.  Packard,  J.  Knapp,  T.  F.  Rogers, 
J.  W.  Canning,  A.  Gates,  S.  Woodbridge.  Charges 
were  preferred  against  him,  (not  however  affecting  his 
moral  or  religious  character)  by  a  part  of  the  parish,  in 
1824.  The  council  was  composed  of  Rev.  Messrs. 
Chickering  of  Phillipston,  Sprague  of  West  Springfield, 
Bucklin  of  Marlboro',  Hitchcock  of  Conway,  Hallock  of 
Plainfield,  Miller  of  Heath.  The  council  reported  that 
they  did  not  deem  it  proper  to  advise  him  to  ask  a  dis- 
mission. 


GREENFIELD.  115 

He  was  dismissed  in  July  1824,  by  an  agreement  be- 
tween himself  and  the  parish,  and  allerwards  settled  at 
Portland,  Me.  where  he  continued  till  his  death,  in  1831. 
He  fixed  the  attention  of  his  audience  by  a  polished 
style  of  writing,  solemnity  of  manner,  and  evidently  deep 
conviction  of  the  truth  of  the  religion  he  taught.  A  vol- 
ume of  his  sermons  has  been  published  since  his  death. 

Rev.  Wm.  C.  Fowler,  a  native  of  Connecticut,  a 
graduate  and  Tutor  of  Yale  college,  was  settled  in  Aug. 
1825.  Ordaining  clergy— Revs.  Dr.  Packard,  J.  W. 
Canning,  W.  B.  Sprague,  E.  Hitchcock.  Sermon  by 
Rev.  Prof.  Fitch  of  New  Haven.  He  was  dismissed  in 
October,  1827,  on  account  of  ill  health.  He  has  since 
been  a  Professor  in  the  college  at  Middlebury,  Vt.  and 
recently  been  appointed  a  Professor  at  Amherst  college. 

Rev.  Caleb  Sprague  Henry,  of  Brookfield,  and  a 
graduate  of  Dart,  college,  was  ordained  in  January,  1829. 
Ordaining  clergy— Rev.  Messrs.  Packard,  Shepard, 
Tileston,  T.  S.  Clark,  B.  F.  Clark,  M.  B.  Bradford, 
Ci-osby,  Sprague,  Foote,  T.  Packard,  Jr.  He  was  dis- 
missed Dec.  1831,  at  his  own  request. 

Rev.  Thomas  Bellows,  of  Walpole,  N.  H.  was  or- 
dained in  March,  1833.  Ordaining  clergy— Rev.  T. 
Packard,  T.  Packard,  Jr.,  N.  Porter,  A.  Chandler,  T. 
F.  Clark,  S.  Pratt.  He  was  dismissed  in  Sept.  1834, 
at  his  own  request  on  account  of  ill  health. 

Rev.  Samuel  Washburn,  the  present  minister  of  the 
parish,  from  the  State  of  Maine,  was  settled  in  Aug. 
1837.  Ordaining  clergy— Revs.  Messrs.  Todd  of  PhFl- 
adelphia,  Aikin  of  Boston,  Packard,  Canning,  B.  Fow- 
ler. Their  having  been  for  sometime  destitute  of  the 
stated  services  of  a  settled  minister,  and  their  unanimity 
m  the  call  of  this  gentleman,  served  to  render  the  occa- 
sion of  his  ordination,  one  of  great  interest  to  them,  and 
of  gratification  to  the  Christian  community  generally. 

He  established  the  1st  Congregational  Church  and 
Society  in  Philadelphia,  where  he  preached  about  two 


116  HISTORY   OF 

years,  and  relinquished  the  situation  on  account  of  ill 
health. 

Thirit  Congregational  or  Unitarian  Society. — 
A  part  of  the  2d  Cong.  Soc.  separated  from  thcra  and 
formed  themselves  into  a  new  society  in  May,  1825. — 
Rev.  Winthrop  Bailey,  a  native  of  Berlin,  and  graduate 
of  Harvard  college,  in  1807,  was  their  first  minister.  He 
was  for  a  time  a  Tutor  of  Bowdoin  college,  Brunswick, 
and  settled  as  a  minister  in  that  town  for  a  few  years. — 
Having,  while  there,  changed  his  views  in  some  respects, 
he  resigned  his  charge  ;  removed  to,  and  was  settled  at 
Pelham  in  1815.  He  was  installed  over  this  parish  in 
Oct.  1825.  Clergy  assisting— Dr.  Thayer,  Dr.  Park- 
man,  Dr.  Willard,  Rev.  T.  F.  Rogers.  He  continued 
their  minister  until  his  decease,  in  March,  1835,  in  his 
51st  year.  Mr.  B.  was  universally  respected  as  a  man, 
highly  estimable  in  all  the  relations  of  life,  who  with  sin- 
gleness and  sincerity  of  mind  and  purpose,  punctiliously 
discharged  its  duties.  Modest,  humble,  mild  and  unas- 
suming, whatever  you  and  I  may  think  of  his  specula- 
tive opinions,  the  Christian  character  shone  beautifully 
out  in  his  blameless  life.  *'  As  a  preacher,  though  he 
was  not  of  them  who  by  their  eloquence  delight,  he  nev- 
er failed  to  instruct  his  hearers.  In  the  pulpit  he  cpm- 
mended  himself  to  their  judgment,  and  he  was  daily 
preaching  to  them  by  the  silent  eloquence  of  his  example. 
He  was  among  the  pure  in  heart,  who  see  God  in  every 
thing,  walking  in  the  light  of  his  countenance,  and  in  all 
good  conscience  before  men." 

Rev.  John  Parkman,  of  Boston,  a  native  of  Brigh- 
ton, and  a  graduate  of  Harvard  college,  was  ordained 
Oct.  11,  1837.  Clergy  assisting — Revs.  George  Rip- 
ley of  Boston,  Austin  of  Brighton,  Everett  of  Northfield, 
Hall  of  Dorchester,  May  of  Leicester.  Sermon  by  Dr. 
F.  Parkman  of  Boston.  Their  meeting  house,  which  is 
a  neat  and  beautiful  building,  was  finished  in  1837. 


OREIlNriELD,  117 

Protestant  Episcopal  Parish  op  St.  James' 
Church. — This  parish  was  formed  in  1812.  Rev.  Ti- 
tus Strong,  of  l)edham,  was  ordained  as  Priest  and 
instituted  Reclor  of  the  parish,  May  26,  1815,  by  the 
Rev.  A.  V.  Griswold,  Bishop  of  the  Diocese.  Their 
church  was  finished  and  consecrated  in  1814. 

Mr.  Strong  was  a  descendant  of  John  Strong,  (first 
ruling  elder  in  the  church  at  Northampton.  He  was  a 
native  of  Somersetshire,  England,  and  came  to  this 
country  with  the  Puritans,  and  was  the  father  of  sixteen 
children)  and  born  at  Brighton  in  this  State,  Jan.  1787, 
and  ordained  Deacon  in  the  Episcopal  churcji  in  1814. 
He  received  the  honorary  degree  of  A.  M.  from  Dart- 
mouth University  and  Williams  College. 

Methodist  Society. — This  society  was  formed  in 
1834,  and  a  house  of  worship  erected  in  1835.  Since 
the  organization  of  the  society,  their  clergymen  have 
been,  Ilev.  Paul  Townsend,  Rev.  Reuben  Ransom, 
and  Rev.  Mr.  Collins,  their  present  minister. 

This  denomination  of  Christians  has  much  increased 
in  the  United  States  within  the  last  few  years.  The 
gift  or  talent  of  speaking  fluently  and  forcibly,  some- 
times powerfully,  in  many  comparatively  unlettered 
men,  combined  with  ardent  zeal,  is  noticeable  in  this 
denomination.  If  there  is  anything  worthy  attention  in 
religion  ;  if  there  is  any  truth  in  the  idea  of  a  future  ret- 
ribution, and  that  there  is,  to  our  apprehension,  the  voice 
of  nature,  reason  and  Revelation  bear  conclusive  testi- 
mony, then  is  their  zeal  not  unworthy  of  imitation,  at 

Note. — Of  the  published  works  of  Mr.  S.  are — Candid 
Examination  of  Episcopacy;  Sermon  on  the  death  of  J. 
Barnard,  1815;  Sermon  at  institution  of  Rev.  Mr.  Howe, 
Claremont,  N.  H.  1819;  Sermon  at  Missionary  meeting 
in  St.  Pauls'  churchy  Boston;  Scholar's  Guide  to  the 
History  of  the  Bible;  Young  Scholar's  Manual;  Com- 

11 


118  HISTORY   OF 

least  measurable.  The  simplicity  and  plainness  of  dress 
which  their  rules  recommend,  is  worthy  of  the  attention 
and  practical  application  of  all,  and  entitled  to  more  ob- 
servance than  they  receive.  The  temptations  to  dress 
are  strong,  particularly  to  the  young,  and  indeed  to  others, 
inasmuch  as  the  opinion  of  the  world,  and  the  attention 
men  receive,  especially  strangers,  is  graduated  by  their 
outward  appearance,  and  by  these  men  are  judged  of.  If 
you  wear  a  shabby  coat,  you  will  be  called  a  shabby  fel- 
low. 

Their  societies  are,  so  far  as  observed,  generally  made 
up  from  the  unpretending  and  those  in  the  more  humble 
walks  of  life.  To  the  poor  the  gospel  is  preached. — 
Such  were  once  chosen  as  the  followers  of  the  blessed 
Founder  of  the  Christian's  hope,  and  they  too  were  every 
where  spoken  against.  Not  many  wise,  not  many 
mighty  were  called.  But  that  there  are  in  an  equal 
number  of  individuals  in  any  denomination,  more  good 
and  sincere  men,  than  in  another,  is  not  pretended.  Suf- 
ficient is  it  for  us  that  we  can  worship  after  the  manner 
we  choose. 

It  is  manifest  that  zeal  is  easily  assumed,  and  unac- 
companied by  knowledge  and  practical  goodness,  is 
worthless.  The  world  soon  sees,  and  marks  with  con- 
tempt, those  who  have  nothing  to  show  but  affected  faith 
and  inordinate  selfishness  and  worldliness,  for  its  eye  is 
even  upon  them  and  the  hollow  professor  cannot  long  hide 
himself  from  its  fixed  and  steady  gaze.  When  religion 
produces  the  peaceable  fruits  of  righteousness,  that  also, 
is  soon  seen,  and  it  is  pertinent  to  remark,  that  it  suffers 
more  from  false  friends  than  open  enemies. 

Good  men  of  all  denominations,  should  act  together, 
and  it  is  to  be  lamented  that  the  zeal  which  should  be 
exerted  in  extending  the  blessed  influences  of  religion, 
and  endeavors  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  human 
race,  should  so  much  of  it  be  bestowed  only  in  exalting 
particular  sects,  and  consumed  in  party  feeling,  and  that 


GREENFIELD.  119 

fire  which  should  enlighten  and  purify,  should  be  suffer- 
ed to  destroy.  Thanks  to  that  beneficient  Power,  who 
rules  overall,  and  before  whom  the  nations  of  men  are 
but  as  grashoppers,  we  are  not  to  be  finally  judged  of 
man's  judgment,  or  by  the  denominations  to  which  we 
belong ;  the  narrow  and  bigoted  views  and  rules  of 
men  form  no  part  of  His  counsels. 

Episcopalians  are  condemned,  Unitarians  are  con- 
demned, Universalists  are  condemned,  and  all  sects  agree 
in  finding  fault  with  each  other.  Who  shall  judge  these 
people  ?  Not  fallible  man — exercising  a  power  belong- 
ing only  to  the  Supreme.  The  Eternal,  whose  thoughts 
are  not  as  our  thoughts,  who  knoweth  our  frame  and  re- 
membereth  that  we  are  but  dust ;  before  whom  those 
who  "  in  every  nation  fear  God  and  work  righteousness, 
are  accepted  ;"  He  is  our  judge. 

Memoranda  of  Rev.  Mr.  Billing,  between  Oct. 
1752,  AND  April  1756. — Ye  R  mr  Pars  says  they  told 
Him  they  could  not  have  advised  us  to  walk  together  in 
peace  and  love,  as  in  ye  close  of  the  Letter  to  ye  chh.  un- 
less I  had  said  yt  I  would  admit  in  ye  old  way,  and  some 
times  they  say  they  were  not  willing  to  tell  ye  chh  I 
would  admit  sieuch  unte  least  it  should  grieve  or  dis- 
please me.  this  is  as  much  as  to  say  they  wrote  some- 
thing in  ye  Letter  wh  they  could  not  have  wrote  truly 
unless  I  had  said  I  would  etc.  I  would  query  wherein 
they  could  propound  in  writing  such  advice  without  rea- 
sons to  support — could  they  think  yt  their  ipse  dixit  yt 
we  might  walk  together  etc.  was  enough  to  convince  ye 
chh  yt  they  might  when  they  themselves  allow  yt  we 
might  not  unless  etc.  But  they  remember  there  was 
enough  said  to  found  such  an  assertion  upon,  for  I  told 
them  none  stood  candidates  for  admission  at  present  in 
ye  old  way  and  if  any  I  should  in  future  I  knew  not  but  I 
might  join  in  admitting  them,  tho  I  did  not  seeyt  I  could 
safely  at  present,     Moreover  I  told  them  I  knew  not  if 


120  HISTORY    OF 

any  wouid  desire  admission  in  ye  old  way  and  there  was 
no  occasion  to  quarrell  for  I  refused  not  communion 
with  those  in  ye  chh. 

1753.  Came  from  Fort  Dummer  8th  day  Jan.— 
next  Sabb  at  Green  River. 

19  August  keept  Sabb  at  home  preached  at  my  house 
and  one  Sabb  in  July  preceding  at  home — before  ye 
last  Sabb  at  home  preacht  5  Sabb  at  Greenfield  before  it 
was  Greenfield  preached  18  Sabb  6  of  which  to  be  paid 
by  Deerfield  and  12  to  be  paid  by  Edw  Alien  and  Dan- 
iel Graves  8  pound  per  Salab.  preacht  five  Sabb  after- 
wards before  it  was  made  a  district  which  were  before 
ye  19  Aug  which  day  I  preacht  at  my  own  house. 

Preachco  ,t  Greenfield  2d  Sabb.  in  July,  kept  Sabb 
at  Home  once  in  July. 

18  Sabb  m  ye  winter  and  spring  1753,  since  which 
preached  5  Sabb  before  it  was  made  a  District  or  till  ye 
19  Aug.  (and  afterwards  in  Oct.  Nov.  Dec.  part  time. 

1754.  Dec  ye  12,  ye  soldiers  went  from  Greenfield  to 
Ens  Barruck  at  fall  town  This  a  grand  scheem  indeed  of 
great  importance  to  ye  defence  of  our  frontiers,  for 
doubtless  ye  Barruk  and  soldiers  will  become  an  easy 
prey  to  ye  Indians.  If  they  invade  them  they  having 
neither  a  fort  nor  a  picquet  and  ye  more  men  they  shall 
take  at  fall  town,  the  less  they  will  take  in  other  place. 

for  Thanksgiving  1756, 

1  piece  Beef  Samu  Mun 

Ditto  Ens  Chdds 

1-4  mutton  mr  D.  Wells 

1  spare  rib  and  2  chickens  of  Mr  Nash 

1  Shoulder  veal  and  2  fowls  of  sergt  Smead 

2  Large  Fowls  of  Jos.  Wells. 
1  Fowl  mrs  nims 

1  of  mrs  alien 

1  Shoulder  of  pork  Mrs  Denio 

2  Fowls  of  Mrs  Graves 
2  mrs  Severance 


1 


GftEENflELD.  121 

About  a  100  Women  went  in  ye  Governours  Army  ; 
And  it  is  said  60  women  were  killed  at  ye  Engagement 
at  ye  or  near  ye  Ohio  under  Genl   Bradduck  in   1755 

perhaps  swearing  drinking  and with  some  other 

sins  rendered  our  Arms  so  successless  in  ye  yeer  1755. 

An  infallible  specific  for  all  those  distempers  which 
arise  from  a  plethoric  Loquacity  and  Indolence  (vhs) 
clearing  Land  one  whole  day  in  ye  weak  with  fasting,  a 
Gentleman  who  was  reduced  to  such  a  low  state  he  yt 
could  not  ride  a  space  of  four  miles  without  throwing  an- 
imal nature  into  a  very  painful  state  has  found  ye  return 
of  his  health  by  ye  above  specific. 

Apl  1756  plague  among  ye  Dogs  at  Boston  and 
Hartford,  gh OS  said  a  Council  of  Doctors  sat  at  Hart- 
ford to  consult  ye  specific  for  ye  jutting  sickness  which 
a  Hermit  in  ye  woods  supposed  to  be  2000,  advised  a 
certain  Dreamer  to  use. 


CHAPTER  YHL 

Extracts  from  the  Diary  of  Rev.  Dr.  Newton. 

1790.  Daily  and  Domes.  Occurr.  Missellane- 
ous  Tho'ts,  &c. — July  21st.  went  with  Mrs.  JYewton 
to  Deerfield  chiefly  in  company  with  Mr.  Lyman  and 
Lady,  at  Mr.  Taylors.  The  company  and  entertainment 
agreeable,  but  something  wanting  to  make  me  happy  as 
there  always  has  been  and  I  fear  always  will  be  in  this 
world.  Does  this  arise  from  sonie  evils  attending  my 
present  situation  or  fears  of  those  to  come,  or  from  a  de- 
sire in  my  nature  of  something  greater  and  better  than 
10* 


122  HISTORY   OF 

what  is  in  this  world,  implanted  there  by  my  Creator,  to 
excite  me  in  a  way  of  well  doing  to  seek  for  glory,  honor 
and  immortality.  When  I  returned  at  evening,  the  sat- 
isfaction I  felt  led  me  to  remark  the  wisdom  and  good- 
ness of  Providence  in  attaching  us  to  our  several  homes, 
whereby  much  interruption  is  prevented  and  our  con- 
tentment greatly  increased,  and  miserable  are  they  that 
have  no  home,  or  a  home  that  is  disagreeable  and  which 
they  wish  to  avoid.  My  two  sons  informed  me  they  had 
.  done  as  I  directed  them,  and  their  industry  and  obedi- 
ence as  usual  were  pleasing,  but  it  is  a  continual  burden 
upon  my  spirits  that  Roger  is  gone,  and  that  I  have  no 
prospect  of  such  improvement  in  literary  accomphsh- 
ments  by  any  other  child.  May  this  humble  me  and  be 
better  to  me  than  a  son  shining  in  Courts. 

July  31.  A  pleasant  day,  but  made  unpleasant  to  me 
by  an  appearance  of  a  voluntary  absence  among  the 
young  people  especially  from  public  worship  and  more 
so  still,  by  the  want  of  a  proper  spirit  and  frame  in  my- 
self—others don't  do  right,  but  I  am  constrained  to 
think  I  do  worse  than  they,  considering  my  profession 
and  situation.  My  feelings  are  not  at  my  own  com- 
mand, yet  it  is  my  fault  that  they  are  no  better,  and  is 
doubtless  owing  in  great  part  to  my  neglect. 

Lord's  Day,  Aug  8.  Preached  from  Gal  vi.  10. — 
The  subject  was  easy,  copious  and  important,  but  in 
the  afternoon  especially,  spoke  without  feeling  and  with 
dissatisfaction  on  account  of  my  own  imperfections  in 
the  duty  1  was  recommending,  and  being  conceived  as  I 
supposed  by  others  to  be  inculcating  that  which  I  did 
not  practice  myself.  Experience  teaches  me  that  in- 
structors of  religion  and  morality  in  order  to  be  happy  in 
their  employ,  must  really  love  and  practice  those  duties 
which  they  enjoin  upon  others. 

This  day  received  an  anonymous  letter  wrote  with  a 
good  legible  hand  and  in  better  language  than  common 
men  generally  use,  expressing  a  desire  that  I  would 


GREENFIELD.  123 

shew  in  some  public  discourse  whether  it  is  right  and 
consistent  with  the  word  of  God  that  men  should  consult 
conjurers,  and  from  information  received  from  them  pre- 
sume to  accuse  particular  persons  of  theft  or  any  other 
crime,  who  cannol  be  found  guilty  in  an  ordinary  way. 
This  motion  I  conclude  was  made  because  heretofore 
Mr.  Cooke  consulted  a  conjurer,  and  of  late,  Mr.  L.  H. 
both  members  of  Church,  and  the  author  of  the  letter 
says  it  is  a  growing  practice,  and  represents  a  number  of 
the  Brethren  as  feeling  concerned  to  have  this  matter 
discussed  in  a  serious  scriptural  manner.  Accordingly 
it  appeared  to  be  my  duty  to  preach  a  sermon  relative  to 
it  so  soon  as  Providence  may  give  a  proper  opportunity. 
•Aug.  22.  Preached  both  parts  of  the  day  concern- 
ing Conjurors  and  the  propriety  of  consulting  them,  from 
1  Sam'l.  xxviii.  8.  The  subject  being  new  appeared  to 
gain  a  little  more  attention  than  common. 

Monday,  Aug.  23.  Read  the  Monthly  Magazine 
for  June,  and  several  Papers  from  the  Printer  at  New 
York.  I  found  little  in  them  either  profitable  or  entertain- 
ing ;  this  however  may  be  owing  to  my  restless  age 
rather  than  to  any  defect  in  them,  but  I  think  there  might 
be  a  great  saving  to  the  people  without  any  injury,  by  di- 
minishing the  number  of  Printers.  Upon  a  review  of 
this  day  and  my  life  back,  I  feel  the  pertinency  of  Bish- 
op Burnett's  expressions  :  "  for  what  is  this  life  but  a 
circulation  of  little  mean  actions.  We  lie  down  and  rise 
again,"  &c.  &)C.  &c. 

Aug  27,  1790.  This  day  is  28  years  since  my  nup- 
tials were  celebrated  ;  since  then  I  have  met  with  many 
unexpected  events  both  pleasing  and  displeasing,  which 
teaches  me  that  I  know  not  what  is  to  come,  but  this  I 
know,  that  my  time  is  short. 

Nov.  25, 1790.  Thanksgiving  Day,  Text,  Zech.  vii. 
6.  Nov.  26.  The  day  spent  among  us  as  usual  in  visit- 
ing and  recreations.     In  afternoon  visited  by  Mrs. 

and  her  sister  R.  a  young  lady  of  a  serious  turn  of  mind. 


124  HISTORY   OF 

who  refused  going  to  a  dance,  seemingly  upon  principle, 
but  in  my  own  mind  I  conceive  of  dancing  being  an  in- 
nocent diversion  in  itself,  though  usually  carried  to  ex- 
cess and  attended  with  unbecoming  behavior. 

Jan.  1,  1791.  The  weather  cold  and  stormy  like  the 
world  in  which  we  dwell,  and  'tis  melancholy  to  think 
what  little  occasion  I  have  to  expect  happiness  as  is  wish- 
ed from  the  New  Year. 

Sunday,  15.     Mr. came  to  see  me,  under 

great  impressions  from  a  dream,  and  with  a  seeming  en- 
gaged purpose  of  reforming  his  life. 

Lord's  Day,  May  1.  Preached  from  Rom.  xiv.  17. 
But  not  much  to  my  own,  nor  as  I  trust,  to  any  others 
satisfaction. 

May  4,  1791.  This  day  my  second  son  Isaac  has 
been  dead  26  years.  His  life  might  have  given  wholly 
a  new  tutn  to  my  outward  and  temporal  affairs,  for  great 
and  numerous  events  are  sometimes  connected  with  one 
in  itself  small.  If  he  had  lived,  the  children  that  suc- 
ceeded might  have  had  no  existence  or  be  of  a  different 
sex,  and  otherwise  in  their  genius,  disposition  and  edu- 
cation than  they  are  now.  He  might  have  been  publicly 
educated,  and  Roger  a  farmer,  and  from  their  settlement 
in  the  world  I  might  have  members  of  the  second  gener- 
ation from  me  rising  in  the  world  ;  or  it  might  have  been 
something  different  from  all  this,  no  body  knows  what ; 
it  is  ordered  as  it  now  is  by  an  infinite  unerring  mind 
whose  course  stands  to  all  generations  and  whose  origin- 
al plan  amidst  the  seeming  confusion  that  is  in  the  world 
and  casual  events,  is  continually  accomplishing  and  will 
be  through  the  endless  ages  of  Eternity.  I,  therefore 
ought  to  be  contented,  though  many  events  take  place 
that  are  disagreeable  to  me,  and  submissive  to  the  pur- 
poses and  designs  which  I  have  eagerly  formed.  There 
is  no  prospect  that  I  shall  see  in  this  world,  as  many 
more  years  as  have  revolved  since  the  death  of  my  sec- 
ond SOD,  and  as  these  have  been  filled  up  with  various 


GREENFIELD  125 

unexpected  events,  so  it  is  probable  that  share  of  time 
will  be,  that  remains  for  me.  But  to  sickness  and  mor- 
tality and  trouble  in  my  family  I  ought  to  consider  my- 
self exposed,  and  to  have  my  passions  so  subdued,  my 
afTections  moderated  in  such  a  manner  towards  each  of 
my  household  and  all  earthly  things,  as  that  I  may  have 
them  separated  from  me  by  Providence,  or  I  from  them, 
without  any  murmuring  or  overbearing  distress.  May 
the  great  Ruler  and  searcher  of  hearts  give  me  such  a 
frame  !  and  may  I  endeavor  after  the  same,  by  contem- 
plating upon  such  truths  and  attending  upon  such  means 
as  lead  to  it. 

July  20,  1791.  This  day  completed  a  year  since  this 
Journal  begun — which  has  rolled  round  insensibly  with 
a  sameness  daily  in  respect  to  its  events.  There  is  no 
new  tiling  under  the  sun.  "What  is  and  shall  be,  has 
been — human  life  is  filled  up  with  a  repetition  of  the 
same  duties,  the  same  labors,  engagements  and  suffer- 
ings— upon  the  whole  this  has  been  a  very  prosperous 
year,  tho'  no  great  events  have  taken  place  in  it — espe- 
cially on  account  of  the  health  that  has  been  enjoyed  in 
n)y  family.  According  to  the  ordinary  course  of  things 
there  can  be  no  change  in  my  outward  circumstances 
materially  for  the  better.  The  probability  is,  from  my 
period  of  life  and  other  things,  they  will  soon  alter  much 
for  the  worse.     Prepare  0  my  soul  to  meet  thy  God  ! 

Aug.  10,  1791.  This  day  reminds  us  of  one  of  the 
most  sorrowful  events  ever  sustained  by  man  ;  the  death 
of  Roger,  my  oldest  and  dearly  beloved  son,  who  died 
Aug.  10,  17S9.  Being  accustomed  to  this  bereavement, 
it  is  less  severely  felt,  in  a  general  way,  than  at  the  be- 
ginning, though  it  still  lies  at  heart  and  always  will  as 
one  of  the  heaviest  burthens  upon  my  mind.  No  father 
ever,  seemingly  stood  in  greater  need  of  such  a  son,  and 
it  is  I  conceive  a  sore  thing  amongst  parents  to  have 
such  a  son,  but  this  opinion  perhaps  is  owing  to  the  par- 
tiality of  a  father.     I  desire  to  remember  that  the  same 


126  HISTORY    OF 

all-perfect  God  who  gave  this  son  hath  taken  him  away, 
and  that  infinite  wisdom  as  well  as  righteousness  always 
attends  his  Providence. 

May  11,  1792.  Began  to  write  upon  Rev.  xvii.  22. 
A  merry  heart  doeth  good  like  a  medicine,  &c. 

May  12.  This  being  my  birth  day  on  which  I  am  55 
years  old,  reminds  me  that  my  life  must  be  drawing  to  a 
close. 

Dec.  19,  1792.  About  5  o'clock  this  morning,  Eliel 
Gilbert's  house  was  consumed  by  fire,  supposed  to  catch 
the  preceding  evening  in  manteltree  of  the  west  lower 
room.  A  subscription  in  his  behalf  was  set  forward 
which  in  a  few  hours  appeared  to  amount  nearly  to  c£lOO. 

x\ug.  10,  1793.  It  being  this  day  four  years  since 
ray  son  Roger  died,  the  sorrows  of  that  event  are  sensi- 
bly revived. 

May  12,  1794.  This  day  adds  another  year  to  my 
number  being  now  57  years  of  age.  My  days  are  spent 
as  a  tale  that  is  told  ;  what  remains  of  time  for  me  will 
soon  be  closed. 

June  4,  1794.  Heard  Reuel  Willard  affirm  in  con- 
versation with  Daniel  Forbes  that  the  north  line  of  the 
street  as  run  by  Mr.  Root  of  Montague  strikes  the  north 
side  of  the  chimney  of  Mr.  Jerom  Ripley's  store  about 
four  feet  from  the  front  of  his  dwelling  house  north. 

1794.  Drew  in  from  the  street  in  making  my  fence 
west  from  the  store  three  or  four  feet  in  order  to  have  it 
range  with  Mr.  Pierce's  fence  which  stands  still  farther 
Vv'est. 

May  22,  1796.  Voted,  members  of  this  church  re- 
siding in  Gill,  might  with  others,  form  themselves  into  a 
church  by  themselves  in  that  place. 

July  27,  1797.  The  bend  in  the  street  against  Je-* 
rom  Ripley,  Esq.  and  which  by  the  running  ot  the  fence 
has  been  straitening  from  time  to  time  for  several  years 
past,  is  now  made  still  straiter  by  the  building  of  his  door- 
yard  and  consequently  the  street  is  made  narrow  and 


GREENFIELD.  127 

deviates  from  its  lines  as  they  were  originally  laid — my 
fence  against  said  Ripley's  is  drawn  in  several  feet  from 
where  my  old  stone  wall  stood  as  may  now  be  made 
manifest  by  the  remainder  in  the  ground  of  some  of  the 
foundation. 

May  2,  1799.  At  a  regular  church  meeting  warned 
for  the  purpose  of  choosing  a  Deacon  and  attending  to 
the  situation  and  conduct  of  Dr.  Billings ;  Jonathan 
Leavitt  was  chosen  Deacon.  Dr.  Billings  by  the  vote 
of  the  church  was  permitted  to  return  to  their  christian 
fellowship,  in  compliance  with  his  desire,  notwithstand- 
ing he  differed  from  them  in  some  of  his  religious  senti- 
ments, particular  in  his  opinion  that  all  mankind  will  re- 
ceive a  final  and  eveilastlng  salvation  by  Jesus  Christ. 

May  2,  1805.  Dea  Ebenezer  Graves  and  Dea.  Da- 
vid Smead  excused  at  their  request  from  serving  any 
longer  as  Deacons,  on  account  of  age  and  infirmities. 
Solomon  Smead,  Esq,  and  Proctor  Pierce  were  then 
chosen. 

Feb.  24,  1806.  This  day  read  Jay's  sermons,  among 
others  that  upon  Ezek.  xxix.  17-20.  from  which  a  ques- 
tion arose  in  my  mind,  viz.  Why  Nebuchadnezzar 
should  be  rewarded  for  undesignedly  executing  the  will 
of  God,  in  conquering  Tyre,  when  the  Assyrian  was 
punished  for  accomplishing  the  purpose  of  God  in  fight- 
ing and  la}ing  waste  his  own  covenant  people  as  related 
in  10th  Chap.  Isaiah.  The  only  reason  for  this  differ- 
ent treatment  I  could  think  of  was  this — it  was  in  the 
heart  of  the  Assyrian  in  wliat  he  did  to  act  against  the 
most  High  God,  whereas  Nebuchadnezzar  had  no  such 
purpose  in  conquering  Tyre. 

Read  the  G.  Gazette  and  saw  in  it  Miss 's  mar- 
riage to .     She  had  a  right  not  to  call  upon  me  to 

administer  the  marriage  covenant,  but  I  placed  it  among 
many  other  marks  of  inatten-tion  and  disrespect,  of  this 
kind  which  I  have  met  with  in  this  place  and  which  while 
they  shew  a  want  of  regard  to  religion,  do  also  evidence 


1^8  HISTORY   OP 

perhaps  that  there  has  been  wanting  in  me  a  manifesta- 
tion and  due  attention  and  respect  to  my  people. 

In  the  evening  read  the  New  York  Herald  and  was 
glad  to  find  it  confirmed  that  victory  turned  in  favor  of 
the  Russians,  in  that  great  battle  of  the  2d,  3d  and  4th 
Dec.  last.  But  so  many  slain  by  fightings  which  come 
from  the  lusts  of  men,  is  a  melancholy  consideration. — 
May  the  Most  High  hush  the  European  nations  and  all 
others  to  peace. 

I  have  this  day  had  no  society  but  my  family  and  even 
this  is  amusing — without  which,  like  the  man  who  lost 
his  mouse  in  the  prison,  I  should  be  miserable.  Solitude 
must  be  my  portion  the  remaining  part  of  life,  seeing  my 
nearest  and  iDest  earthly  friend  is  in  the  grave*  ;  but  I 
think  of  the  moral  philosopher,  who  said  he  was  never 
less  alone  than  when  alone.  My  people  appear  not  to 
think  on  me  except  when  I  visit  at  their  houses,  which  is 
rarely  by  reason  of  my  advanced  age  and  particular  cir- 
cumstances, but  I  think  much  on  them  and  should  feel 
rejoiced  could  I  prepare  suitable  entertainment  for  them 
on  the  Lord's  day,  and  properly  perform  in  other  respects 
the  duties  of  a  Gospel  minister. 

March  7,  1806.  Read  the  Newspapers  with  greedi- 
ness, but  caught  little  or  nothing  but  what  it  was  best  to 
throw  away. 

April  5,  1806.  I  know  not  but  that  I  make  myself 
daily  uneasy  because  my  troubles  are  not  greater  than 
they  be,  but  small  as  they  are  they  will  disturb  and  vex 
me,  especially  the  inattention  which  the  people  pay  to 
what  I  sufl^er  by  the  depreciation  of  money.  Not  one 
man  from  1774,  has  shown  as  I  recollect,  any  disposi- 
tion to  make  any  consideration,  but  all  have  and  contin- 
ue to  pay  the  mere  nominal  sum,  in  the  most  advantage- 
ous way  they  can,  and  appear  glad  they  have  an  oppor- 
tunity to  pay  it  so  easily,  and  unless  I  am  too  jealous, 

*  Mrs.  Newton  died  in  October  previous. 


they  are  not  so  kind  to  me,  as  those  amon^  them  who 
are  friends  to  one  another.  Mrs.  A.  L.  excepted,  none 
of  them  upon  any  particular  occasion,  as  sickness, 
deaths,  funerals,  associations,  have  complimented  me 
with  a  piece  of  fresh  meat,  for  nearly  perhaps  forty  years. 
This  is  very  singular  and  once  unlooked  for,  but  soon 
expected  alter  my  settlement  in  the  ministry.  I  have 
sometimes  suffered  great  inconvenience  in  consequence 
of  this  neglect — have  lived  below  what  I  wished  and 
what  I  thought  reasonable  and  could  not  entertain  friends 
without  too  much  trouble  to  Mrs.  Newton,  a  woman 
given  to  hospitality  and  whose  feelings  were  hurt  through 
life,  that  she  was  noticed  by  those  she  loved  and  who 
were  in  affluent  circumstances,  with  so  little  generosity, 
and  with  so  much  less  than  is  common  for  ministers 
wives  of  her  good  accomplishments  to  experience  this 
oppressive  and  cold  neglect,  which  in  my  view  has  been 
used  towards  me  has  made  my  work  of  the  ministry  hard 
and  irksome,  as  might  naturally  be  expected  in  one  who 
loves  the  world  and  friendship  as  well  as  I  do. 

But  what  more  especially  disquiets  me  is  an  appre- 
hension that  this  anti-ministerial  conduct  in  my  people, 
is  owing  in  a  measure  to  something  wrong  in  myself, 
which  they  know  and  feel,  but  do  not  inform  me  of — for 
I  hear  nothing  as  an  apology  but  my  wealth,  which  it 
seems  they  have  a  faculty  of  estimating  high,  so  that  a 
few  acres  of  ground  here,  in  a  peculiar  expensive  situa- 
tion, is  much  better  to  live  upon  than  double  the  acres  in 
Leyden  or  Colerain.  It  will  be,  1  presume,  the  little  time 
I  have  to  live,  as  it  has  been,  except  worse  ;  and  as  I 
can  see  more  faults  in  myself  than  in  others,  my  com- 
plaint must  be  principally  turned  against  myself  and  my 
business  be  to  amend  my  own  heart  and  life,  and  go  on 
in  the  ministry  cheerfully  and  faithfully,  according  to  my 
remaining  powers,  or  pass  into  retirement  and  show  a 
penitential,  humble  Christian  life  there  ;  my  time  I  would 
recollect,  is  short  for  remaining  either  in  public  or  private 
12 


130  HISTORY   OF 

Station,  being  row  near  the  close  of  the  69th  year  of  my 
life. 

Friday,  May  2,  1806.  Spent  my  time  in  my  study, 
and  think  I  feel  best  when  I  have  least  to  do  with  the 
world  in  general  and  though  I  do  not  wish  to  die,  I  long 
to  be  where  the  wicked  cease  from  troubUng  and  the 
weary  are  at  rest. 

April  28,  1808.  It  being  signified  to  the  church  that 
Samuel  Guild  had  asked  Deacon  Graves  to  return  a 
small  pecoter  vessel  which  he  gave  to  the  church  more 
than  40  years  ago.  Voted  that  it  should  be  returned 
upon  his  renewing  his  application.  Said  Guild  ivas 
formerly  an  inhabitant  of  this  town  and  a  member  of  this 
church  ;  he  has  since  turned  Baptist  after  removing  to 
Leyden,  and  whether  his  requesting  his  gift  of  3s  value 
back,  is  owing  to  a  peculiar  littleness  of  mind  or  some 
good  and  honorable  motive,  1  am  not  called  upon  to  re- 
cord. 

Mar  23,  1812.  This  day  I  am  seventy-five  years 
old.     I  shall  not  and  I  would  not  live  always. 


The  number  of  children  and  others,  baptised  by  Dr. 
N.  up  to  Dec.  20,  1803,  was  827. 


OREENPIKLD.  181 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Biographical  Sketches  and  Anecdotes  of  Men  of  Olden 
Times 

"  For  men  are  like  the  waves  that  roll 

Along  the  mighty  deep — 
That  lift  their  crests  awhile  and  frown, 

And  then  are  lulled  to  sleep; 
While  other  billows  swelling  come, 

Amid  the  foam  and  spray, 
And  as  we  view  their  furrowy  track, 

Sink  down,  and — where  are  they!" 

JAMES  CORSS,  THE  HUNTER. 

James  Corss  was  a  mighty  hunter,  a  very  Nimrod  in 
his  day.  The  age  of  fishing  and  hunting,  such  as  it  was 
in  the  days  of  the  fathers,  has  long  since  passed  away. 
Such  game  as  the  Indian  pursued,  has,  whh  him,  the  son 
of  the  forest,  long  since  disappeared  ;  the  fish  from  the 
river  and  the  deer  from  the  woods. 

Hunting,  in  modern  phrase,  is  not  a  circumstance, 
not  to  be  mentioned  or  compared  with  what  was  hunting 
and  game  in  the  olden  time,  and  was  then,  of  itself,  an 
occupation.  The  hunting  of  our  day  is  pretty  niuch 
confined  to  the  pursuit  of  a  few  harmless  birds,  squirrells, 
red  and  grey,  chipmucks,  partridges,  rarely  a  coon,  some- 
times a  woodchuck,  and  under  the  favor,  protection  and 
patronage  of  the  Commonwealth,  to  black  birds,  foxes 
and  crows.  The  skunk  nobody  wants,  yet  is  he,  even 
he,  sometimes  hunted  ;  pah  !  too  strong,  by  half— igno- 
ble game. 

A  noble  stag  or  deer,  such  as  once  had  their  quarters 
hereabout,  where  once  they  stalked  in  majesty,  free,  un- 
confined,  and  almost  undisturbed,  as  plenty  as  blackber- 
ries, or  cyen  the  sneaking  and  dastardly  varmyot.  the 


132  HISTORY    OP 

wolf,  would  now  be  a  great  curiosity,  and  the  whole 
town  would  be  moved  and  collected  to  catch  a  glimpse 
at  them.  Their  fellow  tenants  and  com.panions  of  the 
forest,  in  their  now  degraded  state,  sometiriies  visit  the 
land  of  their  ancestors,  but  the  deer  never  comes — and 
will  never  again  occupy  these  haunts  of  men  for  their  pas- 
ture ground. 

Our  ancestors,  in  their  annual  town  meetings,  elected 
deer-reeves,  a.3  much  a  matter  of  course,  as  we  now  do 
all  the  newly  married  men  to  take  care  ol'  the  inoffensive 
grunting  swine,  or  surveyors  of  boards,  plank,  timber 
and  slit  work. 

Of  the  privations,  hardihood,  toils  and  dangers,  fru- 
gal habits  and  unyielding  spirit  of  the  old  hunters  and 
first  settlers,  we  can  form  no  adequate  idea.  They  were 
men  of  iron;  bold,  active,  determined  and  persevering; 
neither  dismayed  by  danger,  frozen  by  cold,  nor  melted 
by  heat.  The  hunter  roamed  tree,  far  and  wide  over 
mountain  and  river,  through  dingle  and  copse  and  glen, 
regardless  of  town  lines  or  state  lines.  He  loved  the 
range  of  the  forest,  the  mountain  and  the  rivei*  side,  and 
the  side  of  the  stately  deer. 

The  forest  and  the  wild  were  the  hunters  home,  and 
mid  all  his  exposures,  by  day  and  by  night,  his  heart 
was  unappalled  ;  and  at  night,  after  long  and  lonely 
wanderings — 

"  He  lays  him  down  and  rests  his  head, 
Upon  a  rock  'till  morn;  then  rising  fresh 
Pursues  his  wonted  game, 
And  if  the  following  day  he  chance  to  find 
A  new  repast,  or  an  untasted  spring, 
Blesses  his  stars  and  thinks  it  luxury." 

Niture^s  volume  was  open  before  him,  her  fruits  and 
flowers  and  all  her  stores,  and  he  daily  read,  as  well  the 
moat  sublime  as  the  most  simple  of  her  pages.  Disre- 
garding— indeed  ignorant  of  the  forms  now  governing 
■ocioty  ;  remote,  for  days  together,  from  any  human  in- 


I 


GREENFIELD.  133 

tercourse,  he  communes  with  nature  and  her  works  ; 
happy  in  Iho  solitude  of  the  deep,  interminable  woods, 
and  his  ample  and  undisputed  range. 

To  us,  it  would  seem  that  the  very  silence  and  unbro- 
ken solitude  of  the  vast  forests  must  have  been  appal- 
ling. Nature,  virgin  nature,  reignrd  there  alone  and 
there  was  her  temple.  He  felt  not  his  loneliness,  for  the 
woods  were  his  home,  and  he  cheerfully  exchanged  the 
endearments  of  his  rude  cabin,  for  his  long  and  lonely 
rambles  o'er  hill  and  dale,  unaccompanied,  save  by  his 
rifle  and  trusty  blood  hound,  unhke  the  lazy  and  pamper- 
ed puppies  of  our  degenerate  days,  who  shrink  from  the 
barking  of  the  fox  or  even  the  .sound  of  the  "  rabbit's 
tread." 

Jame^  Corss'  hunting  ground  took  in  all  the  north 
part  of  this  County  west  of  the  Conn,  river,  and  the  bor- 
dering towns  in  Vermont;  his  trap  path,  as  it  was  cal- 
led, was  from  trap  plain,  where  the  first  meeting  house 
stood,  north  to  Bernardston.  A  trap  was  kept  con- 
stantly set  at  the  spring  in  front  of  the  house  of  Samuel 
Pickett,  Esq.  He  usually  had  two  traps  chained  to- 
gether ;  they  were  marked  with  three  hacks  on  the  bot- 
tom of  the  bar.  Two  of  these  traps  have  been  found 
in  the  north  part  of  the  town  within  the  last  half  century. 
He  placed  his  bait  on  the  bushes  overhanging  the  spring, 
where  the  wolves  resorted  to  drinU,  and  in  settling  down 
after  taking  the  bait,  their  fore  lo.fis  generally  fell  into  and 
sprung  his  trap,  and  the  dastardly  and  thievish  miscre- 
ants were  thus  taken. 

There  wa??  a  bounty  of  iE4.  on  wolves,  and  accord- 
ing to  an  account  of  the  exp'oits  of  James  Corss,  in  this 
line,  kept  by  one  Ebenez^^r  Nims,  he  received  as  boun- 
ty, £600-by  others  siid  $600,  by  others  that  he  de- 
stroyed in  his  life  time  900  wolves — (a  glorious  uncer- 
tainty rests  over  it,)  at  any  rate  he  realized  a  snug  for- 
tune for  th<^se  days.  A  monument  in  the  old  burial 
ground,  has  the  name  of  James  Corss,  died  in  1783, 
12* 


134  HISTORY    OF 

aged  90.  He  lived  at  the  old  house  on  the  site  of  that 
of  late  Judge  Leavitt,  a  fort  in  the  time  of  the  Indian 
wars.  This  house  was  burned  do%vn,  and  Dan  Corss, 
son  of  James,  built  the  house,  a  little  east,  now  owned 
by  Mr.  R.  Hall. 

The  wolf  was  a  troublesome  animal,  cruel  and  thiev- 
ish. But  the  noble  and  gentle  deer — where  are  they  I 
Except  a  few  about  Sandwich,  gone  v.ith  the  wild  and 
persecuted  Indian  to  the  western  wilds.  Tliese  will  soon 
be  wilds  no  longer,  and  where  shall  the  Indian  and  the 
deer  go  then  ?   Answer  me  that. 

James  Corss  went  a  hunting  two  days  in  each  week 
regularly,  besides  his  occasional  excursions.  On  one 
occasion  he  found  a  wolf  in  his  trap,  with  one  leg  broken. 
The  villain  showed  fight  and  made  at  him.  James  had 
grappled  with  too  many  of  the  family  to  be  scared  by 
him.  Nothing  daunted,  he  caught  the  marauder  by  his 
posterior  appendage,  vulgarly  called  the  tail,  and  seiz- 
ing a  small  bush,  as  the  fellow  pulled  ahead  to  get  away, 
James  would  pull  him  back  and  switch  him  in  no  gentle 
raatmer.  Thus  they  kept  pulling  and  sawing  in  opposite 
directions,  wolf  being  willing  to  go  and  quit  even,  but 
James  v/ould  n't  let  him,  for  he  v/anted  the  bounty,  till 
ho  worried  him  out. 

Note. — In  1642,  the  Court  of  New  Plymouth  Colony 
enactedj  that  all  the  towns  within  the  Government  shall 
make  wolf  trapps  and  bayte  them  and  look  unto  them 
dayly  upon  the  penalty  of  X's  a  trap  that  shall  be  neg- 
lected. 

In  1665,  an  act  provides,  That  in  every  township, 
diere  bee  two  sufficient  woulfe  trapps  and  to  bee  con- 
stantly bayted  and  dayly  attended  upon  the  penaltie  of 
five  pounds. 

In  1636,  whoever  shall  kill  a  wolfe  and  make  it  suffic. 
knowne  to  the  gov.  shall  have  four  bushell  ofcorne  to  be 
raysed  of  the  constablerick  or  liberties. 


GREENF1EJ,D.  186 

ANECDOTES  OF  AARON  DENIO. 

Mr.  D.  of  vvliom  a  frreat  mnny  nnecdotes  are  still  told, 
was  a  native  of  Canada.  Ili.s  lather  was  a  Frenchman, 
Tradition  informs  us  that  ho  came  to  Deerfield  when 
quite  younir,  in  cotjipany  with  some  Indians,  or,  a  visit 
to  a  family  hy  the  name  of  Stebbins,  who  were  related 
to  him.  When  the  Indians  were  ready  to  return,  they 
were  unable  to  find  hin),  and  returned  without  him.  Hi:^ 
connexions  finding  him  very  smart  and  active,  were  dis- 
posed to  have  hmi  remain  with  them  and  concealed  him, 
probably  with  his  consent.  Tradition  further  informs 
us  that  the  Indians  afterwards  rt-turned  to  Deerfield  and 
comn)itted  depredations  there  in  consequence  of  the  de- 
tention of  Mr.  D. 

He  kept  a  tavern  for  many  years  in  the  house  now 
occupied  by  Miss  C.  Willard,  which  he  built  and  which 
has  weathered  the  storms  of  nearly  a  century.  He 
bought  the  estate  of  Joseph  Allen,  who  removed  to 
Bernardston  about  ninety  years  ago. 

In  all  these  ancient  mansions,  the  fire  places  origin- 
ally used  would  hold  a  fourth  of  a  cord  of  wood,  and  in 
cold  weather  often  did.  Wood  was  not  then  21s.  the 
cord.  Halt  a  dozen  persons  might  sit  under  and  within 
iheir  capacious  mantle-pieces. 

This  house  was  much  resorted  to,  as  well  by  the  wea- 
ry traveller  as  by  the  merry  men  of  Deerfield,  and  the 
country  all  about,  and  if  the  old  linings  of  the  walls  had 
memory  and  spee(  h,  they  would  unfold  much  of  story  and 
of  songj  and  tell  of  many  a  revel  which  consumed  the 
drowsy  watches  of  the  night, 

"When  tales  much  older  than  their  ale  went  round." 

In  1753,  Mr.  D.  was  chosen  a  Deer  reeve,  and  a 
committee  to  supply  the  then  district  with  preaching  : — 
In  1754,  one  of  the  selectmen,  and  one  of  a  committee 
to  wait  on  Rev.  Mr.  Billing  relative  to  hia  being  instal. 


236  HISTORY    OP 

led  He  was,  like  bis  nation,  spirited,  active  and  lively. 
One  day  he  said  to  Mrs.  D.— My  dear,  v^hat  shad  we 
have  for  dinner  to-d:)y  ;  what  have  you  got  in  the  pot  . 
To  this  she  made  no  reply,  or  merely  said,  victuals.— 
He  persisted  in  his  inquiry.  My  dear,  ^^hal  have  you 
got  in  the  pot  over  the  fire,  I  vill  know.  She,  wi  h  the 
fame  indifference  answered  as  before^  Wherea  the  lit- 
tle patience  with  which  nature  had  gitted  hun  became 
utterly  extinct.  Nature  could  bear  no  more.  He  in- 
continently seized  the  aforesaid  pot  from  its  smoky  hang- 
ing., saying,  I 1  v.ll  know  what  is  in  that  pot,  and 

hastily  made  his  way  to  the  brow  of  the  steep  n.ll  back 
of  the'  house,  and  furiously  threw  the  unoffe.>d.ng  vessel         i 
down  the  hill,  and  on  it  went,  rolling  and  tunibhng  and        | 
tossing  hornbiy,  mid  the  steam'of  the  boilirg  fluid,  out        | 
camo,  minolod   in   dread   confusion,  pudding,  potatoes,        ■ 
pork,  beef, 'cabbage,   beets   and   turnips,  still  on   it  went 
ard  on  to  the  bottom  of  the  bill,  to  the  utter  d.srnay  and 
consternation  of  all  peaceable,  well  disposed  and   good- 
potluck-dinner-loving  citizens,  and  in  evil  example  to  a 
others  in  like  kind  to  offend.      He  gained  his  pmvA  but 
lost  his  dinner.     Since  the  days  of  Don   Quixote  was 
never  such  an  adventure  undc  rtaken  ;  the  attack   upon 
the  windndll  is  not  to  be  mentioned  on  the  same  day. 

It  seems  probable  that  he  was  rather  of  a  testy,  im- 
patient humor,  not  pe"uliar  to  his  nation,  or  at  any  rate, 
sometimes  inclined  to  that  mood,  and  that  his  customers 
and  acquaintances  thought  proper  at  times  to  make  it 
conducive  to  their  own  amusement.  It  was  t^e^custom 
of  many  of  the  good  people  of  this  town  and  Deerfield 
to  meet  at  his  house  of  an  evening  as  often  as  once  a 
week,  for  social  converse,  upon  the  af^iirs  of  ^tate,  and 
town  ;  to  hear  and  tell  the  news,  to  take  care  of  their 
nei^rhbor's  characters  and  concerns;  prices  current  ot 
allthings  bought  and  sold  in  the  country,  (for  it  should 
be  noted  here  that  the  course  of  trade  was  then  and  long 
oripr.   v^,  V  f^ifferent  frnm  what  U  HOW  IS.   the  nroduce 


GREENFIELD.  137 

of  ihe  country  went  into  the  hands  of  the  traders  in  the 
country  in  payment  for  their  goods  and  thoy  transported 
it  to  market,  many  of  them  became  their  own  teamsters 
and  drovers,)  all  and  singular,  doubtless,  matters  and 
things  in  general ;  prospects  of  the  weather  and  the 
crops,  and  various  and  multifarious  as  are  Bar-room  top- 
ics, joliing  the  worthy  landlord  and  one  another,  whiling 
away  in  cheerful  chats  wit  and  humor,  sparkling  and 
flashing  like  bottled  beer,  the  drowsy  hours  of  a  winter's 
night.  Where  are  ihey  now  ?  Where  the  merry  joke, 
the  loud  laugh  which  would  make  the  beams  and  rafters 
part  from  iheir  fastenings  ?  The  sands  ot  their  glass 
have  long  since  run  out ;  long  since  themselves  have 
loosened  from  their  moorings,  launched  into  the  inter- 
minable Ocean  of  Eternity. 

On  one  of  these  occasions  of  their  evening  meetings, 
it  was  understood  by  his  guests,  among  themselves,  that 
no  one  should  call  lor  any  refreshment  as  had  been  usu- 
al, in  order  to  try  what  effect  \h\^  new  order  of  things 
would  have  upon  the  temper  of  their  host.  So  said,  so 
done.  They  conversed  for  a  long  timo  (so  it  seemed  to 
the  Landlord)  upon  topics  which  came  up,  but  no  hint 
or  intimation  came  out  of  profit  to  him  for  the  good  fire. 
This  state  of  things  could  not  be  long  endured.  Some 
change  there  must  be  He  became  very  uneasy.  He 
went  in  and  out  of  the  bar  frequently,  sometimes  rapidly, 
moving  ihe  tumblers  and  other  furniture  to  and  fro ; 
from  the  fire  to  the  bar,  from  the  bar  to  the  fire,  putting 
on  more  wood,  punching  and  stirring  it,  now  this  stick 
now  that ;  his  movements  became  more  and  more  rapid 
and  impatient,  until  at  length  he  was  anticipated,  that 
patience  so  often  tried  became  totally  and  entirely  ex- 
hausted, defunct.  He  exclaimed  suddenly,  a  good  fire 
gentlemen,  good  fire,  very  good  fire,  and  the  astounding 
question,  gentlemen  what  will  }ou  please  to  have  to 
drink  1  This  was  enough — the  old  walls  of  the  mansion 
dhook  with  the  burst  and  roar  of  laughter  which  ensued, 


188  HISTORY    OF 

and  how  many  went  home  sober,  verily,  doth  not  appear. 

On  one  occasion,  ho  was  at  the  mill  with  grain  to  be 
floured,  and  alter  it  was  poured  into  the  hopper,  Uncle 
David,  as  he  was  called,  proceeded  to  take  the  toll  as 
usual,  and  contmued  dipping  in  the  toll  dish,  time  after 
time,  the  toll  increasing,  the  grist  diminishing,  fearfully 
diminishing,  until  Mr.  D.  began  to  be  alarmed  at  the 
probable  con<eq'iences  of  this  novel,  and  to  his  view, 
unusual  and  unwarrantable  procedure.  Not  being  over- 
stocked with  that  cardini  and  absolutely  indispensible 
virtue,  patience,  nor  suspt  ui.g  that  Mr.  W.  was  merely 
putting  it  to  the  trial,  and  thinking  that  after  such  oft  re- 
peated visits  of  the  toll  dish  to  his  grist,  forbearance  had 
ceased  to  be  a  virtue,  he  burst  out :  I  do  sw — ee — r, 
Mr.  Wells,  if  you  will  take  the  grist  and  leave  me  the 
toll,  I  will  very  much  thank  you. 

A  traveller  came  in  one  day  asking  for  a  small  matter 
of  bread  and  cheese  (wherewith  to  allay  the  cravings  of 
hunger,)  which  were  directly  set  before  him — Landlord 
Uenio,  as  he  was  always  called,  meanwhile  watching  his 
performance.  The  onslaught  upon  the  eatables,  was 
powerful  and  destructive  enough  for  a  man  who  wanted 
rather  a  whole  sirloin  than  such  dry  materials.  Denio 
watched  the  slices  of  bread  and  cheese,  disappearing  one 
after  the  other  in  quick  succession,  with  consternation 
and  disniay,  till  his  patience  could  hold  out  no  longer, 
and  he  addressed  the  astonished  traveller — "  if  you  will 
stop  now,  you  are  welcome,  entirely  welcome  to  what 
you  have  eat.''  How  the  affair  ended  the  deponent 
knoweth  not. 


EBER  ATHERTON. 

Many  anecdotes  are  related  of  his  propensity  to  tell 
great  stories.  He  resided  in  the  village  and  in  1767 
was  a  surveyor  of  highways.     He  used  to  relate  that  on 


I 
I 


GREENFIELD.  139 

one  occasion^  he  wanted  to  go  to  the  island  at  the  falls 
to  take  Shad,  but  could  find  no  boat,  they  being  all  at 
the  island.  He  bethought  him  that  Mr.  Howland,  living 
near  by,  had  a  pair  of  snow  shoes,  which  he  procured 
and  easily  succeeded  in  getting  to  the  island  on  the  backs 
of  the  shad.  He  took  that  day,  according  to  his  own 
account,  and  as  he  chose  to  exjircss  it,  one  thousand  and 
fifteen  hundred.  The  incredulous  reader  may  entertain 
honest,  nay,  very  serious  doubts  as  to  the  truth  of  this, 
and  call  it  a  "  fish  story,"  but  cannot  expect  the  writer  to 
go  about  to  establish  the  truth  of  one  so  old.  It  seema 
probable  the  man  had  a  queer  idea  about  the  relation 
of  facts. 

The  following  statement,  from  good  authority,  furnish- 
es no  extravagant  idea  of  the  immense  numbers  which 
literally  thronged  the  Connecticut  half  a  century  ago. 
The  father  of  an  individual  now  living  in  this  town,  on 
one  occasion  while  fishing  on  rhe  island  at  the  falls,  at 
the  usual  season,  April  and  May,  (a  June  shad  was  des- 
pised ;  "  as  thin  as  a  June  shad."  is  or  was  a  common 
expression  for  leanness,)  found  it  impossible  to  force 
his  scoop  net  entirely  into  the  water,  by  one  third  at 
least,  the  fish  were  so  numerous,  and  his  net  so  quickly 
filled,  while  the  river  literally  swarmed  and  was  alive 
with  them,  and  they  lay  on  the  shore  in  piies  like  hay- 
cocks. Indeed,  they  were  so  common  and  cheap  that 
people  were  ashamed  to  be  seen  carrying  them  home 
and  took  every  precaution  to  avoid  bemg  seen  with 
them.  Many  and  whimsical  anecdotes  are  still  related 
by  the  old  folks,  of  the  expedients  resorted  to,  to  avoid 
discovery.  They  were  sometimes  sold  as  low  as  a  penny 
each. 

Note.  Those  families  of  the  name  of  Atherton  who 
have  resided  in  town  from  early  times  are  descendants  of 
Rev.  Hope  Atherton,  of  Hatfield,  who  was  with  the  army 
at  the  Fall  fight  in  1676,  and  in  the  retreat  was  separated 


140  HISTORY    OF 

Eber  used  to  relate  the  following  story  of  what  occur- 
red to  him  when  on  a  visit  to  Boston  about  the  time  of 
the  American  Revolution.  In  the  course  of  his  rambles 
about  the  town,  he  chanced  where  some  persons  were 
looking  through  a  telescope  to  discern  some  British  ves- 
sels of  war  lying  at  anchor  at  a  distance  in  the  harbor, 
not  at  all  or  scarcely  visible  by  the  naked  eye.  He  re- 
quested the  privilege  of  looking  through  this,  to  him  new 
and  wonderlul  instrument,  and  it  was  granted.  The 
simple  folk  of  this  village  would  not  believe  a  word  of 
his  statement  that  the  instrument  which  so  much  assisted 
his  vision  could  also  add  to  the  scope  or  capacity  of  the 
organ  of  hearing.  He  said  he  could  plainly  see  the 
red  coats  and  yellow  buttons  of  the  soldiers  on  board, 
and  such  horrid  oaths  and  imprecations  as  they  utteYed, 
he  had  never  before  heard,  and  they  continued  their  pro- 
fanity as  long  as  he  continued  looking  at  them,  'till  it 
loo  ed  blue  all  around,  "ut  the  earthquake  at  Shelburn 
mountain,  which  he  saw,  when  hunting  for  coons,  which 
when  the  earth  closed  sent  the  leaves  up  to  the  heavens, 
was  a  caution. — Whether  Eber  expected  to  be  believed 
in  his  stalements,  or  only  took  this  way  to  amuse  himself, 
does  not  appear.  Evidently,  there  is  in  some  men  from 
their  youth  up,  a  want  of  a  proper  sense  of  the  moral 
turpitude  of  falsehood  ;  a  kind  of  predisposition  to  it, 
with  an  apparent  notion  that  it  is  of  little  consequence 
whether  they  tell  truth  or  not.  There  is  also  a  pre- 
disposition or  natural  propensity  in  others  to  some  par- 
ticular vice,  some  besetting  sin  ;  of  the  impropriety  of  in- 
dulging in  it  they  undoubtedly  have  a  much  less  vivid  idea 
than  others  and  are  less  prone  to  resist.     Hence  in  our 

from  them.  Lost  and  hungry,  he  offered  himself  as  a 
captive  to  the  Indians — who  from  mysterious  cause, 
would  not  receive  him  ;  when  he  spoke  to  them  they 
would  not  answer,  and  when  he  moved  towards  them, 
fled  away.  He  followed  the  course  of  the  river  and  got 
home. 


GREENFIELD.  HI 

judgment  of  men,  this  fact  is  to  be  taken  into  considera- 
tion ;  placed  in  the  same  situation,  having  the  same 
dispositions,  sensibihtics,  propensities— meeting  with  the 
same  temptations,  &;c.  should  we  come  out  of  the  fur- 
nace of  hfe,  less  scathed  than  they.  Those  who  have 
never  been  tempted  or  exposed,  may  call  their  coldness 
virtue,  if  they  choose.  Every  man  is  himself  the  great- 
est sinner  he  knows  of,  because  he  knows  more  of  the 
depravity  of  his  own  heart  and  motives,  than  another  can 
know,  and  less  of  his  neighbor  than  himself  must  know. 
Therefore  judge  charitably  of  the  motives  of  others, 
and  err  rather  on  the  side  of  charity.  Men  judge  of 
persons  and  things,  as  they  either  oppose  or  favor  their 
opinions,  or  interests. 


PHILLIS  AND  JACK. 

The  following  anecdotes  of  the  Olden  Times,  may 
amuse  some  of  my  young  readers,  (such  I  hope  to  have) 
and  I  trust  will  not  be  considered  out  of  place  here, 
though  not  of  a  particularly  serious  character.  It  will 
be  recollected,  that,  previous  to  the  year  1780,  the  hold- 
ing of  slaves  was  allowed,  and  slavery  existed  in  a  mild 
form  in  New  England,  and  though  few  were  held  ia 
bondage  hereabout,  still  there  were  some.  One,  a  fe- 
male. Tenor,  was  a  slave  to  Rev.  Mr.  Newton.  Phillis, 
comely,  fair,  and  well  to  look  upon,  free  as  air,  so  far 
as  she  felt  or  knew  or  cared,  and  gay  as  the  lark,  was 
the  daughter  of  Tenor  (she  was  called  old  Tenor,  for 
she  had  a  daughter  of  the  same  name  and  complexion), 
lived  with  her  mother  at  Mr.  N's.  Tenor,  it  appears, 
was  a  very  staid,  well  behaved  and  kind  hearted  person- 
age ;  that  dusky  covering  enclosed  a  heart  alive  to  the 
best  sympathies  of  human  nature.  On  the  event  of  her 
death.  Dr.  N.  preached  a  sermon,  in  which  among  other 
matters  and  things,  he  gave  her  the  character  of  being 
"  no  pilferer,"  &c. 

13 


142  HISTORY    OF 

At  the  period  of  the  following  adventures,  this  young 
damsel  was  about  sweet  sixteen.  Another  female  of  the 
same  complexion  lived  near,  and  a  colored  man  named 
Jack,  lived  with  Col.  More.  This  trio  frequently  met, 
and  on  one  occasion  the  two  females  were  amusing 
themselves  by  getting  into  a  barrel,  with  both  heads  out, 
and  rolling  part  way  down  the  hill  west  of  the  High 
School,  by  some  means  contriving  to  stop  themselves 
midway  of  the  hill.  They  persuaded  Jack  to  believe 
that  this  was  most  excellent  fun.  Whereupon  he  cou- 
rageously entered  the  cask  aforesaid  and  immediately 
proceeded  on  his  tour  of  observation  and  pleasure,  wool 
erect,  assisted  no  doubt  in  starting  by  a  gentle  push 
from  the  ladies  aforesaid.  Neither  remonstrance  nor 
intreaty  would  stop  the  cask  in  its  rapid  and  downward 
career,  but  on  it  went  and  on,  mid  the  chuckling  and 
laughter  of  these  cruel  damsels,  until  it  encountered 
one  of  the  large  walnut  trees  we  have  mentioned,  when 
with  a  horrible  crash,  the  hoops  and  staves  of  the  barrel 
parted  company  and  scattered  themselves  far  and  wide 
in  all  directions.  Poor  Jack  was  terribly  bruised,  but 
after  some  time,  recovered,  not  however  again  to  try  the 
experiment  or  renew  the  journey.  But  still  it  seems 
he  did  not  take. 

His  visits  at  the  Rev.  Doctor's  were  frequent,  and 
becoming  rather  tedious  to  Phillis,  she  resorted  to  an 
expedient  to  be  rid  of  them.  At  one  of  his  evening 
visits,  she  was  carding  tow,  and  contrived  to  shuffle 
some  of  it  near  and  about  his  feet  without  his  particular 
notice  or  suspicion,  when  suddenly  as  if  by  accident,  she 
let  the  candle  fall  among  it,  and  the  flame  spread  up  and 
around 

"  Like  flambeau  flashing  to  the  morning  skies." 

The  ceiling  was  of  wood,  and  for  a  time  the  house 
seemed  in  danger,  but  the  fire  was  soon  got  under,  by 
the  assistance  of  the  good  Doctor  and  his  family,  who 


GREENFIELD.  143 

were  aroused  by  the  uproar  from  their  meditations  in  the 
next  room.  Phillis  confessed,  Jack  was  sadly  burnt, 
took  the  hint,  and  troubled  her  with  his  visits  but  very 
seldom,  after  this  explosion. 

As  for  Phillis,  she  never  once  thought  of  marrying 
Jack — no  indeed — not  she — the  disparity  in  their  age 
was  too  great ;  she  was,  as  has  been  mentioned,  about 
sweet  sixteen,  in  the  very  bloom  of  youth,  and  life  and 
beauty,  and  he  was  about  40 — perhaps  a  twelvemonth 
or  so,  more. — Here  was  fearful  odds.  Such  a  project 
would  have  been,  in  her  view,  ridiculous  in  the  extreme  ; 
no,  it  would  never  do,  and  whether  he  ever  went  so  far 
in  the  journey  of  courtship  as  to  pop  the  question  in  her 
ebony  ear  doth  not  appear. — Certain  it  is  that  she  un- 
dertook to  prescribe  for  the  wounds  he  received  in  the 
affair  of  rolling  down  hill  in  the  barrel.  The  most 
grievous  wound  was  on  the  shin.  The  application  she 
recommended  was  cither  beef  brine  or  dry  salt ;  the 
best  authority  says,  the  latter,  and  she  suited  the  action 
to  the  word  by  immediately  throwing  salt  into  the  wound. 
Since  the  days  of  Hippocrates  or  Galen,  such  a  pre- 
scription or  remedy  was  never  thought  of,  heard  of, 
read  of  or  conceived.  Besure,  salt  will  cure  and  pre- 
serve fresh  meat,  and  it  may  be  that  "  upon  this  hint  she 
spake,"  reasoning  perhaps  philosophically.  This  was 
a  little  too  much.  Human  nature  could  bear  no  more. 
There  is  a  point  beyond  which  endurance  cannot  go. 
Any  thing  else  he  might  have  borne.  Time,  language, 
and  the  reader's  patience  would  fail,  should  an  attempt 
be  made  to  describe  the  contortions,  the  faces  and  gri- 
maces he  made  on  the  application  of  the  brine  prescrip- 
tion. Suffice  it  to  say,  he  broke  the  tie  which  bound  him 
to  this  faithless  and  treacherous  damsel,  this  mistress  of 
his  affections,  and  was  never  again  seen  among  the  train 
of  her  admirers.  Phillis  afterwards  married  Cassar  Fine- 
mur,  the  son  of  Romus  and  Rose,  and  had  13  children, 
all  of  whom  died  save  one.     One  of  her  descendants 


144  HISTORY    OF 

seems  to  partake  somewhat  of  her  frolicksome  humor 
and  freaks  of  fancy,  having  recently  been  engaged  in  a 
riot  as  a  partner,  on  the  Shutesbury  common,  and  is  now 
receiving  his  punishment.  As  for  any  further  account  of 
Jack,  whether  he  ever  again  became  entangled  in  the 
meshes  of  lov«,  the  historian  saith  not,  because  he 
knoweth  not. — But  the  trick  which  Phillis  played  off 
upon  a  Rev.  Clergyman  who  called  on  an  extreme  cold 
day  after  a  long  cold  ride,  by  mixing  too  much  strong 
water  with  that  of  weaker  composition,  it  will  not  do  to 
tell  of — no  that  will  never  do. 


COL.  WILLIAM  MOORE. 

The  name  of  William  Moore,  a  native  of  Rutland, 
Worcester  Co.  although  he  is  unknown. to  any  of  the 
present  generation,  and  to  few  of  the  present  inhabitants 
of  this  town,  is  still  familiar  to  some,  as  that  of  an  indi- 
vidual of  great  enterprise  and  business  talents,  of  stately 
figure  and  fine  personal  appearance,  a  finished  gentle- 
man of  the  old  school,  much  respected  and  beloved,  and 
the  pioneer  of  business  in  this  place.  Those  who  re- 
member him  seem  to  delight  to  talk  about  him  and  his 
day  among  them,  and  his  name  is  associated  in  the 
minds  of  men  with  every  thing  generous  and  noble.  He 
was,  in  fact,  the  soul  and  life  of  business  and  enterprise. 
He  erected  on  the  site  of  the  present  grist-mill,  a  mill 
six  stories  high,  for  flouring  wheat,  which  was  then 
abundant  in  this  region.  He  had  at  the  same  time  in 
operation,  works  for  making  nails,  coopering,  preparing 
Ginseng,  Tanworks,  a  potash,  where  a  great  business 
was  done ;  a  slaughter  house,  in  which  500  head  of  cat- 
tle were  barrelled  yearly  ;  a  tallow  house,  dry  house, 
two  stores,  one  between  the  present  Stage  House  and 
Hall  and  Go's  Store,  where  the  road  now  passes   (it  is 


GREENFIELD.  146 

not  many  years  since  this  now  f;;rcat  thnionghfaro  was 
called  the  new  road)  and  another  called  the  large  or 
great  store,  where  the  county  gaol  now  stands.  To  use 
the  language  of  those  who  now  speak  of  him,  "  he  em- 
ployed an  army  of  men,"  but  as  the  saying  is,  "  he  had 
too  many  irons  in  the  fire." 

He  was  at  one  period  largely  concerned  in  business 
at  Hartford,  Conn,  and  Peacham,  Vt.  and  now  resides 
in  Montreal— an  Inspector  of  Beef. — He  came  here 
about  the  year  1784.  Very  little  mechanical  or  mer- 
cantile business  had  been  done  in  the  tcrwn  previous  to 
his  commencing,  and  by  his  means  some  of  those  now 
living  here,  and  men  of  enterprise  and  industry,  became 
inhabitants,  and  were  for  a  time  in  his  employ — Capt. 
Ambrose  Ames,  a  native  ol"  Bridgewater,  in  nail  making, 
— the  late  Mr.  Benjamin  Swan,  David  Wait  and  Mr. 
William  Wait,  from  Groton,  in  the  coopering  business, — 
and  about  that  time  many  others  established  themselves 
here,  among  whom  were  the  late  Col.  Eliel  Gilbert, 
a  native  of  Brookfield,  a  man  of  enterprise  and  for 
many  years  a  Representative  of  the  town, — Mr.  Samuel 
Pierce,  from  Middletown,  Connecticut,  and  others. 

Note.  The  upper  story  of  Moore's  Mill  was  in  the 
time  of  the  late  war  occupied  by  S.  Hunt  &  Co.  for  a 
cotton  factory,  and  afterwards  by  Joel  Parker.  A  small 
cellar  under  the  mill  was  used  in  Col.  Moore's  day,  as 
tradition  says^  by  Mr.  GofFe,  the  miller,  and  one  Jenks, 
a  one  armed  man,  for  counterfeiting  silver  coin.  They 
were  taken,  and  Goffe  turned  state's  evidence.  GofTe 
erected  a  dam  some  distance  below  the  cutlery  worka 
and  a  little  above  the  old  brick  yard,  without  right,  and 
abutted  it  on  Moore's  land  ;  he  and  his  workmen  cut 
away  one  end  of  it,  and  the  next  flood  swept  away  the 
balance.  The  Oil  Mill  on  the  east  side,  formerly  im- 
proved by  A.  Ames  and  S.  Pierce,  was  taken  down  a 
tew  years  ago. — The  other  buildings,  improved  by  Mr. 
Martindale  as  a  satinet  factor}^,  and  the  sawmill,  &c. 
were  swept  away  in  a  flood,  Dec.  1836. 
*13 


146  HISTORY   OF 

Previous  to  Col.  Moore's  day  the  mills  were  owned 
by  Mr.  David  Wells,  familiarly  known  by  the  name  of 
Uncle  David,  who  is  remembered  by  very  few.  He 
gave  a  bell  to  the  school  district  in  this  village,  on  which 
his  name  is  inscribed  ;  his  grave  is  among  us — without 
a  stone  to  mark  the  spot — the  identical  place  of  his 
sepulture  no  man  knowelh  to  this  day.  "  But  little  he 
recks  if  they'll  let  him  sleep  on."  Peace  to  his  ashes. 
His  heirs  inherited  his  estate  in  the  usual  course  of  such 
matters,  neglecting,  perhaps  forgetting  the  proper  tribute 
of  respect  due  the  dead.  In  his  day  Salmon  and  Shad 
were  plenty  in  our  rivers.  He  once  observed  a  salmon 
attempting  to  leap  over  the  dam  of  the  mill  in  Green 
river  ;  at  the  second  leap  he  went  some  distance  down 
the  stream  before  he  turned  to  make  his  effort  to  leap 
the  dam,  and  rose  far  enough  up  by  his  leap  barely  to 
touch  the  lop  of  the  dam  with  his  gills  ;  falling  back,  he 
went  still  farther  down  the  stream  than  before,  and  turn- 
ing again,  as  if  to  acquire  a  momentum,  renewed  his 
efforts  and  leaped  at  least  six  feet  above  the  top  of  the 
dam,  and  passed  into  the  stream  above.  This  looks  like 
reasoning  and  calculation.  The  above  fact  was  recently 
communicated  to  the  writer  by  a  respectable  citizen  of 
Deerfield.  Salmon  were  formerly  taken  as  far  up  as 
Whitingham,  though  rarely. 

His  Courtship. — The  latter  part  of  his  days  were 
passed  in  the  family  of  the  late  Mr.  Timothy  Hall,  who 
lived  where  Col.  ,S.  Root  now  does,  where  he  died  a 
bachelor,  at  an  advanced  age.  Tradition  informs  us 
that  he  had  contracted  matrimony  with  a  lady,  whose 
name  is  not  known,  and  that  it  was  broken  off  by  the 
following  queer  circumstance.  It  was  the  custom  some- 
times at''  raising  buildings,  to  invite  those  who  assisted, 
which  then  comprised  all  the  neighborhood,  (as  occa* 
sionally  at  this  day)  frequently  a  whole  town,  to  a  supper 
got  up  expressly  for  the  occasion.  Such  a  case  occurred 
to  Uncle  David.     The  lady  referred  to  was  present,  and 


GREENFIELD.  147 

he  invited  her  to  take  tlio  head  of  the  tabic  and  do  the 
honors  thereof  to  the  guests.  Whether  from  native  dif- 
fidence, or  from  an  idea  that  it  was  improper,  or  from 
coquetry,  or  because  her  love  was  cold,  or  from  some 
one  of  the  inexplicable,  unmentionable  freaks  of  fancy, 
to  which  females  are  liable  and  sometimes  give  way, 
(for  who  can  sound  the  depths  of  a  woman's  mind  (or 
man's  either)  or  find  an  answering  reason  to  his  queries 
thereunto  relating)  or  whether  she  was,  to  use  a  mean- 
ing, though  vulgar  phrase,  *'  one  of  the    • unac- 

countables,"  cannot  now  be  told  :  but  she  persisted  in 
declining  the  intended  honor,  which  he  had  probably 
long  calculated  to  confer  upon  her  as  a  signal  mark  of 
his  love  and  affection.  Neither  tradition  nor  the  faith- 
ful page  of  history  throw  any  light  upon  this  matter. 

This  was  a  disappointment  so  unlooked  for,  so  unex- 
pected, so  mortifying  to  his  feelings,  that  he  could  not 
brook  it.  "  The  iron  entered  into  his  soul."  As  this 
was  his  first  love,  so  it  was  his  last :  as  he  had  never 
loved  before,  so  he  never  loved  again.  Their  courtship 
ended  then. 

'  O  woman,  in  our  hours  of  ease, 

*  Uncertain,  coy,  and  hard  to  please, 

*  When  pain  and  anguish  wrijig  the  brow, 

*  A  ministering  angel  thou  !' 

Thus  saith  the  poet,  and  so  far  as  the  observation  and 
experience  of  the  writer  goeth,  he  confirmeth  the  truth 
of  the  poet's  affirmation. 


The  HusKiNGs  of  those  days  which  collected  whole 
neighborhoods  of  young  and  old,  were  (and  until  within 
the  last  twenty  years  continued  to  be)  great  occasions, 
of  evening  industry,  feasting  and  mirth  :  and  not  equal- 
led in  their  simple  neighborly  exchange  of  good  feeling, 
by  the  more  refined  taste,  distinctions,  false  delicacy. 


148  HISTORY    OF 

sickly  refined  formal  intercourse,  and  buckram  stiffness 
of  these  later  days.  To  my  mind,  reader,  those  days  of 
simple  habits,  frank  and  open  intercourse  and  manners ; 
the  equal  footing  upon  which  all  met ;  the  warm  and 
cordial  welcome  to  all  of  every  degree,  if  well  behaved  ; 
— have  a  charm  which  the  formal  and  heartless  meetings 
of  this  day  cannot  give  :  though  more  fashionable  and 
genteel,  'tis  hollow  all — and  unmeaning — sincerity  is  not 
there.  Upon  their  like,  those  patriarchal  days,  we  shall 
not,  here,  again  look.  Men  then  lived  more  according 
to  nature,  and  a  fine  coat  and  polished  shoe  were  not 
necessary  to  command  attention  and  respect,  arid  the 
poor  were  as  good  as  the  rich. 


Capt.  Isaac  Newton,  was  of  that  class  of  liberal 
minded  and  benevolent  men,  whose  views  are  enlarged, 
who  live  for  the  good  of  others,  as  well  as  their  own, 
and  look  upon  all  mankind  as  their  brethrens  and  do  not 
confine  their  charity  to  party  or  sect.  In  him  frankness, 
sincerity,  liberality  and  benevolence,  dwelt  without  stint 
or  measure  ;  and  '  even  his  failings  leaned  to  virtue's  side.' 
Many  a  widow  and  orphan  have  blessed  him  for  his  kind 
care  of  their  interests,  and  his  reward  was  better  than 
gold. 

*  He  chid  the  wandering,  but  relieved  their  woe.* 

Holy  spirit  of  benevolence,  thou  comest  to  the  wounded 
mind,  as  to  the  expecting  Eastern  city,  the  caravan  long 
wandering  o'er  desert  sands, 

*  While  Mecca  saddens  at  the  long  delay.' 
or  as  Ossian  would  say,  like  a  beam  of  the  East  arising 
in  a  land  unknown. 

It  is  no  matter  where  such  men  are  born,  *  to  whom 
related  or  by  whom  begot,'  nor  of  what  complexion  they 
are.     He  was  frank,  open  and  plain,  in  all  he  said  and 


GREENFIELD.  149 

did  ;  of  an  intcllin;ent  and  sound  mind.  Hi^  townsmen 
were  well  aware  of  this,  and  resorted  to  him  as  to  a  pa- 
triarch for  advice  and  counsel.  Instead  of  consulting 
the  lawyer  in  all  cases,  (they  did  not  visit  them  as  much 
in  that  golden  age  as  now)  they  consulted  with  such  men 
as  Capt.  Newton.  The  memory  of  such  men  is  blessed  ; 
like  the  twinkling  luminaries  of  the  sky,  their  character 
and  influence  shed  a  mild  radiance  all  around.  His 
father  was  brother  to  Dr.  Newton  ;  they  were  from 
Durham,  Connecticut,  and  were  among  the  earl}  settlers 
of  this  town,  then  almost  a  wilderness,  and  he  and  the 
Doctor  "  were  of  a  piece."  He  came  to  this  town  be- 
fore or  soon  after  the  Doctor,  at  the  age  of  21,  and 
struck  the  first  blow  with  the  axe  among  the  sons  of  the 
forest,  on  the  fiirm  where  Deacon  Curtis  Newton  now 
lives,  which  as  all  the  land  owned  by  the  Newtons, 
was  then  a  hemlock  swamp,  which  he  bought  for  7s.  6d. 
an  acre,  and  built  the  house  there  now  standing.  He 
spent  the  summers  clearing  his  land,  winters,  worked 
for  the  Doctor  at  20s.  a  month,  and  endured  all  the 
hardships  incident  to  settlers  in  a  cold  barren  region. 
He  was  a  professor  of  religion  from  his  youth,  imputing 
his  conversion  to  the  early  impressions  received  from, 
and  the  kind  teachings  of  a  pious  mother.  How  lasting, 
how  pure  and  holy  are  impressions  received  from  this 
source. — They  come  to  us  in  after  life,  mid  our  play- 
things, our  follies,  and  the  cares  of  manhood.  We  may 
not  be  as  good  as  we  should  be  ;  but  for  these,  we  might 
have  been  much  worse. 

Before  the  age  of  22,  he  had  never  had  an  overcoat,  and 
then  only  a  second  hand  one,  and  no  education  except 
what  his  mother  taught  him,  and  two  weeks  instruction 
from  Dr.  Goodrich,  of  Durham.  He  enjoyed  life  better 
than  most  men,  and  was  always  disposed  to  look  on  the 
bright  side  of  things  ;  he  considered  religion  the  work  of 
life  and  not  of  a  mom,ent ;  his  religion  was  that  of  the 


150  HISTORY    OP 

heart.  The  first  part  of  his  life  was  darkened  by  the 
loss  of  two  wives,  and  five  first  born  children. 

To  say  that  he  was  a  friend  to  his  country  and  his 
fellow  man,  would  be  too  weak  an  expression  of  his  feel- 
ings. He  loved  them.  He  was  one  of  the  first  who 
came  forward  in  town  and  voted  to  risk  life  and 
fortune,  for  the  Independence  of  his  country  ;  was  out 
several  times,  three  months  at  a  time,  with  the  militia  ; 
was  at  Fort  Edward  on  short  allowance  when  Burgoyne 
was  taken  ;  at  West  Point  v/hen  Arnold  fled  from  the 
consequences  of  his  treachery,  on  board  the  Vulture, 
and  for  the  first  time  in  his  life  saw  Washington,  who 
was  there  looking  after  Arnold  ; 

"  'Tvvere  worth  ten  years  of  peaceful  life, 
"  One  glance  at  their  array  ;" 

received  the  commission  of  Captain,  July  1,  1781,  the 
same  day  on  which  he  was  ordered  to  West  Point,  and 
took  the  command  of  113  men. 

On  his  return  home  he  called  out  his  company  at  the 
Old  North  Meeting  House  (now  demolished),  and 
formed  them  into  platoons,  which  was  then  a  new  mode 
here,  it  never  having  been  done  before  ;  it  was  an  inno- 
vation upon  Indian  file,  which  astonished  the  people. 
He  cared  not  for  ofiice,  but  the  people  cared  to  have 
him  in  office  as  often  as  they  could.  He  was  twenty-one 
years  assessor,  selectman,  overseer  of  the  poor,  and 
several  times  member  of  the  Legislature,  &c.  &c. 

As  was  his  life  so  was  his  death,  peaceful  and  serene  : 
not  a  cloud  settled  upon  his  horizon  or  obscured  his 
vision.  His  earnest  prayer  was,  that  he  might  not  out- 
live his  mind  and  usefulness  ;  he  was  willing  to  depart 
at  any  time,  and  spoke  of  his  last  change  as  of  the  or- 
dinary business  of  life.  He  seemed  to  retire  from  life, 
like  one  well  satisfied  ;  who  had  had  enough  ;  and  to 
resign  himself  like  an  obedient  child  to  the  will  of  a  fa- 
ther, in  whom  it  confides  as  knowing  what  is  best  for  its 


GREENFIELD,  151 

happiness.     He  trusted  in  Him  "  whose  fan  is  in  his 
hand,  who  will  gather  his  wheat  into  his  garner." 

In  the  old  burying  ground  a  httle  east  of  the  old  meet- 
ing house  site  and  near  the  scene  of  his  early  labors, 
he  the  remains  of  himself,  his  father,  and  his  two  bro- 
thers, John  and  Samuel  Newton.  He  died  in  Decem- 
ber 1824,  aet.  75,  followed  to  the  grave  by  the  respect  of 
all  men,  a  shock  of  corn,  indeed  fully  ripe. 

^  So  live,  that  when  thy  summons  comes,  to  join 
The  innumerable  caravan  that  moves 
To  the  pale  realms  of  shade,  where  each  shall  take 
His  chamber  in  the  silent  halls  of  death, 
Thou  go  not  like  the  quarry  slave  at  night 
Scourged  to  his  dungeon,  but  sustain'd  and  sooth'd 
By  an  unfaltering  trust,  approach  thy  grave, 
Like  one  who  wraps  the  drapery  o*f  his  couch 
About  him,  and  lies  down  to  pleasant  dreams. '» 


Capt.  Caleb  CLAPP^^-The  lapse  of  a  quarter  of  a 
century  has  not  obliterated  from  the  minds  of  a  large 
portion  of  the  population  of  this  section  of  country,  the 
memory  of  the'  twin  brothers  Capt.  Caleb  and  Capt. 
Joshua  Clapp  ;  the  former  a  resident  of  this  town,  the 
latter  of  Montgomery,  Vermont.  Both  were  officers  in 
tKT  war  of  the  Revolution,  of  the  same  grade.  The  re- 
semblance between  them  was  so  perfect  that  they  could 
not  be  distinguished  the  one  from  the  other  except  by 
their  dress.  Both  gentlemen  of  the  old  school,  intelli- 
gent, affable,  polite,  and  accessible  to  all.  Both  men 
of  very  sanguine  temperament,  at  times  seemingly  en- 
joying life  to  the  full,  and  again  all  nature  seemed  to 
them  a  blank,  a  desolation.  The  dark  and  all  absorbing 
spirit  of  despondency  and  depression,  (which  occasion- 
ally takes  possession  of  some  peculiarly  constituted 
niinds)  that  grand  leveller,  and  nullifier  of  talent  and 
distinction,  of  which  those  who  have  never  partaken, 


152  HISTORY   OF 

can  form  no  adequate  conception,  no,  not  even  a  remote 
idea,  at  times  overwhelmed  them,  setting  at  nought  the 
powers  of  reason. 

The  sympathy  existing  between  these  high  minded 
and  honorable,  and  when  the  writer  last  saw  them  to- 
gether in  1810,  venerable  men,  was  as  remarkable  as 
the  almost  wonderful  resemblance  in  their  persons.  Both 
were  in  comparatively  easy  circumstances,  yet  the  first 
named  had  suflered  considerably  in  the  great  Virginia 
land  speculation.  This  sympathy  showed  itself  in  the 
closing  act  of  their  lives. 

The  human  mind  is  so  constituted,  in  the  great  mass 
of  men,  as  to  submit,  in  ordinary  circumstances,  to  losses 
irretrievable,  and  to  evils  which  are  without  a  remedy. 
Not  so  in  all.  In  some  men,  disastrous  events  produce 
immediate  insanity,  and  in  others  imbecility — while  in 
others,  adversity  begets  fortitude,  a  perseverance  which 
never  yields.  These  are  the  men  of  iron.  Depress  a 
man  by  adversity,  by  a  long  series  of  disappointments 
and  losses  in  all  his  undertakings,  let  his  hopes  and  as- 
pirations be  laid  low,  let  his  enemies  be  among  the  rich 
and  consequently  influential ;  steep  in  poverty,  mull  and 
grind  him,  with  every  whipper-snapper  to  join  in  the  hue 
and  cry,  and  then,  why,  what  then  ;  if  his  heart  is  made 
of  sheet  iron  and  his  nerves  of  steel,  he  may  go  calmly 
on  his  way  and  do  as  other  men  do.  Screw  him  as  long 
as  he  can  bear  it,  that  is  merely  the  rheumatism,  then 
give  one  more  turn  and  it  is  the  gout. 

Reader,  whoever  thou  arl  who  periisest  these  lines, 
whether  thou  art  gentle  or  simple,  wise  or  unwise,  let 
your  motto  be,  nil  desperandum^  never  despair,  don't 
give  up  the  ship,  for  be  assured,  if  you  are  true  to  your- 
self and  to  your  God,  although  your  path  be  dreary  and 
lonely, 

*  There  is  a  Power  v^hose  care, 
'  Will  teach  your  way  along  this  pathless  coast.' 
'  There's  a  sweet  little  cherub  that  sits  up  aloft, 
'  Who  keeps  watch  for  the  life  of  poor  Jack.' 


GREENFIELD.  163 

The  brothers  were  natives  of  the  County  of  Worcester, 
and  served  throuirh  the  whole  war  of  the  Revolution. 
The  subject  ol  this  notice  died  in  1812 — his  brother, 
the  year  [)revious. 

Note.  Capt.  Clapp,  as  well  as  others  who  bear  that 
name  in  this  country,  are  undoubtedly  the  descendants  of 
Capt.  Roger  Clapp,  who  came  to  this  country  from  Eng- 
land in  16-29 — was  commander  of  the  fort  at  Castle  Island 
in  1665 — distinguished  in  his  day  for  eminent  piety  and 
usefulness. 


Thomas  Chapman. — Mr.  Chapman  was  a  native  of 
Barford,  Yorkshire,  England  ;  a  gentleman  of  scrupu- 
lous integrity  and  uprightness,  of  extensive  reading,  and 
great  intelligence  and  iriformation  :  he  had  travelled  much 
in  the  old  world  as  well  as  in  the  new,  and  was  a  close 
observer  of  men  and  things.  He  resided  some  years 
in  the  East  Indies,  and  was  engaged  in  the  rearing  of 
silk  worms,  and  in  the  silk  business— residing  some  time 
at  Bengal,  and  at  Cossim-buzar.  He  resided  subse- 
quently some  years  in  his  native  land,  which  he  loved, 
(as  he  did  also  tliis  his  adopted  country,)  when  from 
some  dissatisfaction,  as  is  supposed,  with  the  course  of 
things  in  England,  he  came  to  this  Western  world,  and 
resided  some  time  at  Elizabethtown,  New  Jersey,  was 
naturalized,  and  came  to  this  town  about  the  year  1796  ; 
where  now  bis  ashes  rest,  in  their  last,  long  sleep,  dis- 
charged from  the  cares  of  earth. 

His  home  was  the  home  of  hospitality,  good  old  Eng- 
lish hospitality,  and  in  his  heart  dwelt  the  law  of  kindness 
and  good  will  to  all  mankind.  Affable  and  accessible 
to  all,  the  young  as  well  as  the  old,  the  humble  as  well 
as  the  exalted  were  free  to  draw  from  the  fund  of  in- 
formation he  possessed,  which  was  seemingly  inexhaust- 
ible. Often,  has  the  writer,  who,  though  young,  had  the 
14 


154  HISTORY    OF 

pleasure  of  his  acquaintance  and   friendship,   listened 
with  intense  intPiesl  to  his  conversation. 

"  Still  o'er  those  days  my  memory  wakes, 

And  fondly  turns  with  miser  care." 
In  our  intercourse  witli  the  world,  we  meet  with  so 
many  sordid,  and  heartless,  in  uhorri  all  absorbing  self- 
ishness seems  to  have  blotted  oul  the  last  spark  of  gene- 
rous and  social  feeling  from  the  soul,  that  the  mind 
lights  with  pleasure  upon  the  history  of  the  good  and 
benevolent,  like  Noah's  weary  dove  upon  the  olive 
branch,  rising  above  the  surrounding  waste  of  waters 
in  solitary  loveliness,  and  loves  to  dwell  upon  them,  as 
the  weary  pilgrim  upon  an  Oasis  in  the  desert.  Rari 
apparent  nanhs  in  giiroite  vasfo. 

Mr.  C's  reading  in  Theology  was  extensive  ;  it  may 
be  said  to  have  been  his  favorite  study  :  it  left  on  his 
mind  an  unwavering  belief  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  in 
which  belief  he  lived  and  died. 

''  Within  that  sacred  volume  lies, 
The  mystery  of  mysteries, 
And  better  never  have  been  born, 
Than  read  to  doubt,  or  read  to  scorn." 

On  the  25ih  of  May  1819,   his  life  went  out  like  the 
spark   frou:)   the   lajop   which   had  long  been  feeble  and 
flickering  ;  it  was  ^lone  in  a  monienf. 
'^  Walk  thoughtful  on  the  silent,  solemn  shore. 
Of  that  vast  Ocean  you  must  sail  so  soon, 
And  put  good  works  {and  faith)  on  board,  and  wait  the 

wind. 
That  shortly  blows  us  into  worlds  unknown." 

There  are  some  who  from  inordinate  selfishness,  and 
judging  others  by  themselves,  seem  to  have  no  fellow 
feeling  for  any  ot  the  human  race  but  their  own  relations  : 
others  whose  love  is  confined  to  themselves  alone  ;  and 
who  never  speak  well  of  any  human  being,  or  if  by  ac- 
cident it  be  unwaiily  t'orced  Irom  then;,  it  seems  to  come 
grudgingly.  True  it  is,  no  one  does  n)ore  than  his  duty, 
lew  do  that. 


GREENFIELD.  165 

The  mists  of  prejudice  may  for  a  time  obscure  the 
cbaraclor  of  rricti  ol  worth,  but  hke  the  vapors  which 
surround  the  mountain's  sumu  it  which  ihoy  cannot  hide, 
they  are  uhimatcly  dispelled,  lie  had  his  faults.  Reader, 
place  your  hand  over  the  place  "where  an  honest  heart  is, 
or  ought  to  be,  and  ask  yourself  if  you  have  never  sin- 
ned. I(  the  answer  be  affirmaive,  seek  not  to  '*  draw 
his  frailties  fmnfi  their  dread  abode,"  Nathloss  there  be 
some  who  appear  and  act  as  though  they  felt,  We  are  not 
as  other  men  are. 


*  Time  rolls  his  ceaseless  course.     The  race  of  yore, 

'  Who  danced  our  infancy  upon  their  knee, 

*  And  told  our  marvelling  boyhood  legends  store, 

Of  their  strange  ventures  happ'd  by  land  or  sea, 
'  How  are  they  blotted  from  the  things  that  be  !' 

THE  LAST  OF  THE  FISHERMEN. 

Timothy  Hall,  a  native  of  Middletovvn,  Connecticut. 
He  came  to  this  town  not  far  from  the  year  1780.  His 
sister  was  the  wife  of  Rev.  Dr.  IVewton.  He  established 
himself  here  in  the  halting  business,  and  lived  where 
Col.  Root  now  does.  He  was  an  unpretending  and 
humble  man,  who  although  possessing  the  best  dispo- 
sition and  kindest  feelings  imaginable,  still  loved  to  lure 
the  finny  race  from  their  native  element.  He  depreca- 
ted, yea,  fairly  abhorred  the  idea  of"  taking  them  in  seines 
or  nets,  or  indeed  in  any  other  manner  than  by  present- 
ing them  the  well  baited  hook,  thus  giving  them  an  op- 
portunity to  choose  or  refuse  as  to  them  should  seem 
meet.  This  he  considered  as  fair  play  ;  here  was  no 
compul-ion.  His  faithful  steed.  Pomp,  when  straying 
here  and  there  to  pick  the  scanty  herbage  by  the  way 
side,  knew  his  voice,  would  give  an  answering  neigh, 
come  at  his  call,  cheerfully  submit  himself  to  the  bit  and 
rein,  and  trot  away  in  high  lilee,  seemingly  enjoying  the 
fishing  excursions  as  well  as  his  kind  hearted  and  induU 


156  HISTORY   OP 

gent  master.  It  was,  today  above  the  Falls,  on  the  calm 
bosom  of  the  river,  or  along  its  romantic  shores  ;  to- 
morrow, perhap«,  some  other  part  of  the  river,  or  at  Lilly 
pond,  or  at  Deerfield  river  ;  the  next  at  Fall  river,  or 
Mill  Brook,  or  some  othor  brook.  If  business  prevented 
or  the  weather  was  unfavorable,  just  at  night,  slip  down 
to  Green  river. 

"  When  the  wind  is  in  the  West — 
The  fish  bite  the  best, 
When  the  wind  is  in  the  East, 
Fish  bite  the  least." 

The  frosts  and  snows  of  Winter  afforded  the  fish  no 
protection  from  his  incursions.  He  knew  all  the  good 
places,  the  times  and  seasons  for  taking  them,  and  re- 
membered with  peculiar  pleasure  every  spot  where  he 
had  drawn  his  line  successfully.  Such  success  attended 
his  fishing,  that  many  were,  as  occasion  offered,  desirous 
of  accompanying  him  on  these  excursions,  vainly  think- 
ing, that  under  his  patronage  and  countenance  they 
would  be  sure  of  a  good  fry,  as  the  phrase  is.  Side  by 
side,  few  or  none  could  cotnpete  with  him.  Frequently 
would  he  take  a  companion's  place,  by  exchange,  who 
complained  he  could  not  obtain  even  a  glorious 
nibble,  while  himself  was  in  luck,  and  the  fish  seemed 
to  follow  him,  for  his  neighbor  in  taking  his  place,  would 
fare  little  or  no  bettor  than  before,  while  he  himself 
would  pull  them  out  at  will.  By  what  magic  art,  spell 
or  charm,  he  had  this  power  over  the  scaly  fry,  none 
could  divine,  yet  some  supposed  he  scented  his  bait  with 
drugs.  The  secret  died  with  him.  His  mantle  has 
fallen  on  no  one,  although  there  are  some  hereabout 
who  make  pretensions  to  skill  in  the  gentle  art. 

The  same  kindness  and  attention  to  their  good  cheer 
which  he  shewed  to  his  favorite  horse  Pomp,  our  friend 
also  shewed  to  every  member  of  his  family,  both  journey- 
men and  apprentices,  to  all  his  domestic  animals,  and  to 
all  his  visiters.  All  were  liberally  and  bountifully  ted.  The 


GREENFIELD.  167 

fish  came  in  for  their  share  also.  He  usually  carried 
n  pocket  full  of  corn  on  his  fishinjr  excurs^ions,  which  he 
threw  into  the  river  where  he  intended  to  throw  the  line, 
to  toll  or  call  them  (ogplher.  Whether  a  panicle  of  that 
selfishness  to  which  all  flt'sh  is  heir,  mingled  in  this  act, 
the  reader  will,  exerci.-ing  all  due  charity,  and  careful 
how  he  judges  of  other  men's  motives,  determitic  for 
himself.  At  any  rate,  this  manoeuvre  commonly  suc- 
ceeded well,  and  douhtless  many  a  dace,  trout,  perch, 
with  others  of  the  scaly  fry,  partook  of  his  bounty,  who 
never  nibbled  at  his  hook. 

He  was  largely  blessed  in  his  companion  for  life  :  she 
was  an  eminent  pattern  of  cheerfulness  under  all  circum- 
stances ;  of  industry,  humility  and  kindness,  in  whom 
preeminer.tly  shone  forth  the  christian  virtues.  Her 
price  was  above  rubies.  Blessed,  thrice  blessed  be  the 
memory  of  such  angels  of  good,  such  benefactors  of 
sufTering  humanity,  such  sisters  of  charity.  Many,  very 
many  still  live  to  revere  and  bless  her  memory.  For- 
getting her  own  cares,  ease  and  indulgence,  to  soothe 
the  pillow  of  sickness  and  distress  and  the  bed  of  death, 
and  pouring  into  the  wounded  heart  the  oil  of  consolation 
and  hope.  Such  good  works  are  not  to  be  purchased 
with  njoney.  Too  good  for  earth,  gone  to  enjoy  her 
rest,  a  pure  being  in  a  nobler  sphere. 

And  here  in  relation  to  his  kindness  and  indulgence 
to  those  in  his  employ,  especially  to  the  younger  ones, 
the  apprentices,  I  may  be  pardoned  for  saying  that,  what 
proceeded  from  that  kindness  and  goodness  of  heart  in 
him,  was  to  many  of  them  a  permanent  injury,  as  they 
thereby  failed  of  acquiring  those  business  habits,  so  ne- 
cessary to  success  ifi  life,  which  probably  would  not  have 
forsaken  them.  The  young  as  well  as  the  old,  are  by 
nature  inclined  to  ease  and  indulgence,  whereas  the 
tenure  upon,  or  by  which  we  hold  our  life,  and  the  true 
enjoyment  of  it,  as  well  as  the  means  whereby  we  live, 
do  not  admit  of  it.  That  it  is  better  to  wear  out  than 
to  rust  out,  is  a  prime  and  cardinal  maxim.  Occupation 
*14 


158  HISTORY    OF 

is  necessary  to  the  health  of  the  mind  as  well  as  the  body ; 
it  is  indispensable  to  both.  Employnnent  is  the  grand 
panacea  for  those  thick  coming  fancies,  low  spirits, 
spleen,  that  horrible  depression  of  mind,  which  destroy 
the  usefulness  and  happiness,  and  nullify  the  talents  of 
many  a  son  of  Adam.  JVil  sine  labore — nothing  to  be 
had  without  labor.  Toil  strings  the  nerves  and  clarifies 
the  blood.  Look  at  a  cultivated  field,  the  ears  of  whose 
crop  are  while  to  the  harvest  ;  at  that  beautiful  garden, 
rich  in  the  production  of  plants  and  flowers.  What  a 
living  picture  is  here  of  the  beneficial  effects  of  industry, 
apparently  worthless  before  its  hand  was  applied,  the 
abode  of  weeds  or  barrenness. 

Somewhere  about  half  a  cenlury  ago,  an  unlucky, 
unworthy  and  mischievous  frnlick  loving  wight  of  an 
apprentice,  by  name  Sam  McDaniels,  lived  with  our 
worthy  friend  the  fisherman,  who  carried  on  a  very  con- 
siderable business.  Sam  knowing  the  pecjiliar  humor 
of  his  master,  in  the  dark  recesses  of  a  mind  fruitful  in, 
and  ever  studying  out  some  wicked  and  mischievous  trick, 
contrived  by  the  agency  of  an  old  cow  with  an  unmusical 
bell  attached  to  her  neck,  to  disturb,  for  one  night  at  leasti 
the  sleep  of  his  kind  master.  After  every  body  was 
asleep  but  himself  and  the  Owls,  he  placed  a  bundle  of 
hay  under  the  window  where  his  master  slept,  and  drove 
the  cow  up  to  partake  of  it.  The  act  of  eating  the  hay 
would  set  the  restless  tongue  of  the  bell  in  motion,  which 
would  awake  his  master,  who  would  get  up  and  drive 
the  cow  away.  He,  concealed  near  by,  could  hear  his 
master's  complaint,  and  reproaches  at  the  innocent  ani- 
mal, while  himself  convulsed  his  wicked  sides  with  sup- 
pressed laughter.  Thus  he  consumed  the  live  long 
night,  which  was  a  cold  one.  Ever  as  the  animal  was 
driven,  and  he  supposed  his  master  had  again  got  fairly 
asleep,  he  enacted  over  the  frolic  till  the  dawn  of  day. 
Careless  of  his  own  rest  and  ease,  the  love  of  fun  and 
mischief  was  uppermost,  and  every  other  consideration 
yielded  to  it. 


GREENFIELD.  159 

The  disposition  lo  frolic,  nt  the  piosent  diiy,  soems  to 
vent  itself  in  soiDCwhat  a  (Jiflerent  and  more  serious  way, 

Mr.  II.  had  a  compeer — a  man  o(  "  irii<;hty  bone  and 
bold  emprize,"  in  this  hne  ;  of  cotnmandiriir  size  and 
figure,  a  man  ol  brawn.  To  those  wlio  coiDpbijned  they 
could  catch  no  tish,  he  would  say,  you  do  not  use  the 
right  bait  ;  why,  Mr.  Potter,  I  bait  with  necessity,  said 
he. 

He  fell  a  martyr  to  the  cause.  His  sons  had  often 
told  him  that  he  would  lose  his  life  in  that  stream  in 
which  he  so  much  delighted  to  fish,  and  so  it  was.  On 
the  26th  Nov.  1S2S,  he  was  enjoying  his  favorite  sport 
in  a  canoe  or  skiff  anchored  out  in  the  eddy  a  few  rods 
below  Deerfieid  River  Bridge.  By  some  movement  of 
his  the  canoe  lurched,  and  he  was  plunged  headlong  into 
the  stream,  some  rods  from  the  shore.  He  made  an 
effort  to  reach  the  shore,  and  swam  for  a  while  ;  but 
the  coldness  of  the  water,  added  to  the  infirmities  of  age, 
and  his  hat  being  drenched  and  falling  down  over  his 
eyes,  so  far  thwarted  his  exertions  that  he  sunk,  and 
although  help  was  soon  afforded,  he  was  drawn  from  the 
water,  no  longer  a  pr-soner  of  hope  ;  his  spirit  had  taken 
its  everlasting  flight  lo  that  world  where  all  is  judged  of 
truly. 

Admiral  Potter  was  a  native  of  ISTew  Bedford — his  a<Te 
76. 

There  was  yet  another  of  this  brotherhood,  these  true 
disciples  of  Isaac  Waiton,  and  they  delighted  to  fish 
together  and  talk  over  their  exploits.  This  was  no  other 
than  the  lale  Mr.  John  Pinks.  He  was  a  native  of 
Thetford,  England,  came  over  with  Bnrgoyne,  as  master 
Tailor  to  the  army,  and  was  at  the  battle  of  Bemus's 
heights.  He  was  a  while  at  Cambridge,  and  while  the 
army  was  at. the  barracks  at  Rutland,  he  was  in  an  ad- 
joining town  at  work,  and  was  not  notified  seasonably 
to  join  them  on  their  return  to  England.  He  died  her© 
in  February  1835,  aged  79. 


160  HISTORY    OF 

Lt.  Calvin  Munn. — This  venerable  and  veteran 
soldier  of  the  Revohition,  settled  in  this  town  soon  after 
the  war,  and  was  for  a  long  series  olye;irs  the  host  of 
the  traveller  and  waylaring  man.  He  came  to  this  town 
in  1792* 

His  enterprise,  his  iron  industry,  his  energy  and  deci- 
sion of  character,  with  other  sterling  traits,  are  known 
and  remembered  by  njost  of  our  citizens.  The  readi- 
ness and  energy  with  which,  upon  occasion,  ho  would 
handle  the  musket,  like  a  plaything,  and  the  rapidity  of 
his  action  in  going  through  the  exercise,  would  even  now 
at  his  advanced  age,  put  a  whole  regiment  of  our  modern 
militia  warriors  to  the  blush. 

He  was  born  at  Munson,  in  Hampden  County,  in 
1761,  enlisted  into  the  ariny  in  1777,  and  served  during 
the  war.  Was  at  the  taking  of  Burgoyne  :  on  Rhodo 
Island  with  Sullivan  :  in  l^afayette's  Infantry  :  was  at 
the  South  with  him  at  the  capture  of  Cornwallis  at  York- 
town.  The  spring  after  the  second  three  years  men 
joined  the  army,  he  was  selected  as  drill  sergeant  to 
teach  the  recruits  who  joined  the  4th  Massachusetts  re- 
giment, the  first  rudiments  of  discipline.  Among  the 
number  was  a  young  girl  of  about  twenty,  who  enlisted 
under  the  name  of  Robert  ShurtlifT,  but  whose  real  name 
was  Deborah  Sampson.  She  was  prompt  and  expert, 
and  did  her  duty  faithfully  as  a  soldier.  No  one  in  the 
regiment,  probably,  suspected  her  to  be  a  female.  In 
the  fall  of  the  year,  alter  those  who  enlisted  during  the 
war  were  discharged,  the  regiment  she  belonged  to  were 
sent  to  Pliiladelphia.  where  she  was  taken  sick  :  was  de- 
ranged, and  by  the  character  of  her  symptonris,  the  phy- 
sicians discovered  her  sex.  She  was  dressed  accord- 
ingly, and  sent  home  to  her  friends,  and  married  a  Mr. 
Gannett.  A  novel  was  written  soon  after  the  war,  of 
which  she  was  the  heroine,  not  one  fourth  part  of  which 
ifl  true.     She  was  not  wounded  as  is  therein  related. 


GREENFIELD.  16 1 

Solomon  Smead,  son  of  David  Smcnd. — The  first 
Judge  ol  Probale  after  the  county  was  ornnnised  ;  many 
years  a  rcpiescrifative,  and  one  oftlie  Governor's  Coun- 
cil. He  was  much  resorted  to  for  counsel  and  advice. 
A  remarkable  sickness  prevailed  in  his  family  in  January 
180S.  The  disorder,  which  was  a  highly  malignant, 
putrid  fever,  swept  away  Mrs.  S.  after  a  sickness  of 
fourteen  hours,  and  three  children  soon  after,  with  a  sick- 
ness nearly  as  brief.  Another  died  the  next  month,  of 
the  same  disorder. 


I  am  reluctantly  compelled  to  omit  here  notices  of 
other  individuals,  well  worthy  of  a  passing  tribute,  for 
the  reason  that  this  already  exceeds  the  number  of  pages 
intended,  and  the  impatience  of  the  Printer.  I  regret 
also  to  be  obliged  to  omit  a  List  oi'  O  ituaries  since  the 
year  1790,  and  other  articles  intended  to  form  an  appen- 
dix. 


CHAPTER  X. 
LAWYERS,  PHYSICIANS,  GRADUATES,  &c. 

As  it  has  been  customary  in  the  Histories  of  Towm-i 
to  insert  the  names  of  Graduates,  Lawyers,  &c.  some 
of  those  who  were  born  and  have  resided  here,  are  here 
inserted.  For  the  reason  given  in  the  last  chapter,  I 
am  obliged  to  be  more  brief  than  I  could  desire. 

Edward  Billmg,  Physician,  son  of  the  Rev.  Edward 
B.  Grad.  Harv.  College.  He  studied  Divinity,  and 
preached  for  a  short  time.  He  practised  Physic  hero 
till  his  death— in  1806. 

Roger  Newton,  Jr.  Grad.  Yale  Coll.  1785.  Tutor 
there  in  178S.  Studied  Law  with  the  late  Governor 
Strong,  at  Northampton.  A  man  of  excellent  endow- 
ments and  great  promise.    He  died  in  1789,  aged  27. 


162  HISTORY    OP 

William  Coleman,  a  native  of  Boston,  studied  Law 
at  Worcester,  with  Judoe  Paine.  He  was  in  a  great 
measure  seli  taught,  thouijjh  his  early  advantaj^cs  were 
good.  When  spoken  of,  he  was  always  called  Lawyer 
Coleman,  a  man  of  genius,  talents  and  taste  ;  enterprise 
and  perseverance.  JYil  teligit  quod  non  ornaint.  He 
excelled  in  every  thing,  even  in  athletic  exercises  ;  in 
music,  dancing,  skating,  bail  playing  ;  in  writing,  not  one 
of  our  modern  teachers,  \vh(»  can  learn  any  and  every 
body  to  write  a  good  hand  in  12  hours,  could  equal  his 
neatness  of  style — in  every  thing  first  and  foremost,  and 
finished  every  thing  he  undertook,  except  the  house 
he  began  t(»  build  ;  succeeded  in  almost  every  thing  ex- 
cept in  the  Great  Virginia  L^nd  speculation,  atjd  although 
in  this  he  thought  at  one  time  that  he  had  realized  some 
$30,000  of  as  substantiiil  material  as  our  good  Presi- 
dent's yellow  boys — yet  it  turned  out  like  Maine  specu- 
lations, mere  moonshine  ;  'twas  mere  brown  paper,  such 
as  pedlars  choose.  This  spirit  of  speculation  makes 
men  heartle-s,  and  converts  tiern  into  cannibals. 

He  afterwards  went  to  New  York,  was  the  partner  of 
Aaron  Burr,  and  the  intimate  friend  of  Alexander  Hamil- 
ton ;  and  finally  the  editor  of  the  Evening  Post,  the 
leading  and  mosf  inflaential  p;iper  on  the  Federal  side  ot 
politics,  in  the  Union. 

Several  of  the  tad  and  beautifid  elms  which  are  now 
the  pride  and  ornament  of  this  village,  were  planted  and 
watered  by  the  hand  of  Williatn  Coleman.  The  corro- 
ding tooth  of  time  has  levelled  an  ancient  and  spreading 
butternut,  which  stood  a  few  rods  south  east  from  the 
house  he  built,  and  the  towering  old  Hayscales  still  far- 
ther on,  where  now  no  land  is.  The  very  fertile  and 
beautiful  meadow  west  of  these  buildings  was,  within 
memory,  covered  with  many  lofty  walnuts,  sprinkled  over 
the  soil  like  an  orchard,  excepting  the  western  part, 
which  was  covered  with  alders,  among  which  and  near 
the  margin  of  Bull  head  pond,  where  is  a  fine  spring  of 
water,  once  stood  the  hut  or  wigwam  of  a  solitary  Indian. 


GREENFIELD.  163 

Walnuls  of  the  finest  quality  and  size,  have  been  gathered 
by  tlie  carl  load,  funn  lliis  tract. 

Mr.  Coleman  was  appointed  Clerk  of  tho  C/ity  Court, 
with  a  salary  of  $  300U.  lie  was  also  a  Reporter  of 
Decisions,  and  published  a  volume  of  Reports  which 
bear  his  name.  In  reportmg  the  case  of  Levi  Weeks, 
who  was  tried  for  the  murder  of  Gulielma  Sands,  by 
throwing  her  mto  the  Matihalien  well,  a  note  was  sub- 
joined ni  which  it  was  said  that  as  Weeks  had  had  a  fair 
trial  by  a  jury  of  his  country  and  been  acquitted,  the 
public  ought  to  acquiesce  in  the  decision,  6lc.  leav- 
mg  an  impression  that  Coleiti;;n  believed  him  guilty. 
The  brother  of  W.  requested  Mr.  Coleman  to  alter  this 
note  or  vary  the  phraseology,  to  which  Mr.  C.  replied 
that  it  was  too  late,  as  the  report  was  publishc  d  and 
gone  abroad.  Mr.  Weeks  then  offered  him  $500  if  he 
would  make  the  desired  altcraiion,  which  Mr.  Coleman 
declined  doing.  Uhunaiely  Mr.  W.  oOered  $15U0  for 
the  suppression  of  the  Report  or  for  the  edition.  Mr. 
Coleman  said,  Mr.  W.  you  are  not  worth  money  enough, 
neither  is  the  City  of  New  Yorl.,  to  buy  n;e.  Ever  after, 
Mr.  W.  became  his  attached  and  iirm  tiicnd.  An  occa- 
sion so(m  presented  for  a  trial. 

A  painter,  an  acquaintance  of  Mr.  C.  applied  to  him 
to  purchase  an  elegant  picture  he  had  executed,  which 
being  in  distress  for  money,  he  offered  to  sell  him  for 
$600,  and  pressed  him  very  earnestly  to  purchase  it 
and  relieve  his  distress.  After  some  reflection,  Mr.  C. 
recollecting  Weeks's  passion  for  pictures,  atid  Knowing 
his  wealth,  said,  I  think  1  can  find  you  a  purchaser.  He 
took  occasion  to  call  upon  Weeks,  and  after  examining 
and  conmienting  lipcjn  his  pictures,  of  which  he  had  a 
large  and  fine  collection,  observed,  here  is  a  space  just 
large  enough  for  an  elegant  picture  1  know  of,  it  will 
fill  this  vacanc;-  nicely,  and  then  stated  the  case  of  the 
painter.  The  idea  took  ;  C.  went  with  Weeks  to  the 
painter's  shop.  The  painter  stated,  as  he  had  previously 
done  to  C.   the  great  labor,  care  and  time  he  had  h" 


164  HISTORY   OF 

stowed  upon  it,  and  its  value,  but  his  necessities  were 
such,  he  was  induced  to  offer  it  for  $500.  Mr.  Weeks 
was  satisfied  with  the  price,  and  the  bargain  was  closed. 
— Such  a  man  was  William  Coleman.  Levi  W.  after 
his  trial  resided  tor  a  time  at  Bloody  Brook,  in  this 
County,  and  was  en^^aged  in  trade  ;  ultimately  he  be- 
came a  vagabond,  as  is  said. 

Jonath-^n  Leavitt,  son  of  Rev.  R.  Leavitt,  of  Heath. 
Graduated  Yale  Coll.  17^6.  Studied  Liw  at  New  Ha- 
ven, C.  and  settled  here  about  the  year  1790.     Senator 

in ,  and  for  many  years  Judge  of  Probate  and  of  the 

C.  C.  Picas.     Died  in  1830,  aged  66. 

Richard  English  Newcomb,  son  of  Hezekiah  New- 
comb,  of  Bernardston.  Born  at  Lebanon,  C.  in  1770. 
Grad.  Dart.  Coll.  1793.  Studied  Law  with  William 
Coleman.  Admitted  1796.  Represe  itative  in  1805. 
County  Attorney.     Judge  of  Probate  since  1821. 

Samuel  Clesson  Allen,*  son  of  Joseph  Allen,  of 
Bernardston.  Grad.  D.  Coll.  1794.  Settled  in  the 
ministry  at  Northfield  in  1795,  which  situation  he  relin- 

•  It  has  been  sus^gested  that  John  and  Edward  All3rn, 
mentioned  on  the  18th  page,  could  not  have  been  the 
sons  of  Edward  Allyn  who  s'^ttled  at  Dedhim,  but  might 
have  been  his  Grandsons.  The  last  named  died  in  1642. 
There  were  several  of  the  name  settled  here  in  early 
times,  among  whom  were  David,  Noah,  John  and  Jo- 
seph, who  may  have  been  of  a  different  family  from  Ed- 
ward. Joseph,  the  Grandfatherof  H  )n.  Mr.  A.  removed 
from  this  town  to  Bernardston  about  90  years  since,  and 
was  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  that  town. 

Capt.  Joseph  Clesson,  the  maternal  Grandfather  of 
Mr.  A.  was  at  Cape  Breton  in  1740.  He  was  taken  by 
the  Indians  at  Grave  Brook,  near  Rocky  Mountain,  a 
little  East  of  the  village,  from  whom  he  suffered  severe 
treatment  ;  and  carried  to  Canada,  where  he  was  forced 
to  run  the  gauntlet.  From  thence  he  was  carried  to 
France,  where  he  was  detained  about  three  years  and  a 
half. 


GREENFIELD.  165 

quished  a  few  years  after,  studied  Law  with  John  Barrett 
and  settled  in  New  S;ilem.  Senator.  Electi'-d  to  the 
13lh  CoDirrcss  in  1816,  and  continued  a  member  until 
the  22d  CouiTress.  Kemoved  to  this  town  about  the 
year  18i2.  County  Attorney  soon  alter  the  County 
was  organised.  lie  now  resides  at  Noithfi''Id.  Ho 
holds  a  deservedly  high  rank  among  the  accompHshed 
scholars  and  slatestnen  of  New  England. 

Elijah  Alvord,  son  of  Caleb  Aivord.  Studied  Law 
with  Judge  Newcomb.  Admitted  in  1802.  lias  resi- 
ded here,  except  from  1805  to  1809  at  Greenwich.  Re- 
presentative. Member  of  State  Convention  in  1820. 
Received  the  hon.  degree  of  A.  M.  at  Dart,  and  Wil- 
liams Colleges.  Register  of  Probate.  Clerk  of  Courts 
since  1819.     Pahiiam  qui  meruit,  etc. 

Proctor  Pierce,  native  of  New  Salem.  Grad.  Dart. 
C.  1796.  He  kept  the  District  School  in  this  village 
several  years — where  all  branches  then  studied,  were 
taught,  and  where  many  were  fitted  for  Colle«j;e.  Scho- 
lars resorted  to  his  School  from  abroad.  He  engaged 
in  trade,  and  afterwards  taught  at  Cambridge  and  Bos- 
ton. 

Avery  Williams,  son  of  Rev.  H.  Williams,  of  Leverett, 
a  Graduate  of  the  same  College  in  1804,  succeeded 
Mr.  P.  in  the  same  school.  He  settled  in  the  ministry 
at  Lexington.     Died  in  1816,  aged  34. 

George  Thomas  Chapman,  son  of  Thomas  Chapman. 
Born  in  Devonshire,  England,  in  1786.  Graduated  D. 
Coll.  1804.  Studied  Law  with  Judge  Newcomb.  Ad- 
mitted in  1808,  and  practised  a  few  years  at  Bucksport, 
Maine.  Studied  Divinity,  and  took  orders  in  the 
Episcopal  Church.  Ten  years  Rector  of  C.irist  Church 
in  Lexington,  Kentucky.  Received  the  degree  of  D.  D. 
from  Transylvania  Uiiiversity  in  1824. — Now  settled 
at  Newark,  New  Jersey.  His  published  works  »ie, 
Sermons  upon  the  ministry,  worship  and  Doctrines 
of  the  Episcopal  Church,  and  Sermons  to  PiesbyterW 
aos. 

Id 


166  HISTORY   OI' 

Hooker  Leavitt,  son  of  Rev.  R.  Leavitt,  of  Heath. 
Member  for  a  time  of  Dart.  Coll.  Studied  Law  with 
his  brother.  Judge  Leaviit.  Admitted  in  1811.  Regis- 
ter of  Deeds,  and  County  Treasurer. 

Rodolphus  Dickinson,  son  of  Col.  T.  W.  Dickinson, 
Deerfield.  Grad.  Yale  Coll.  1605.  Studied  Law  at 
Northampton  with  John  Taylor.  Admitted  1808.  Prac- 
tised at  Springfield  till  1811.  Clerk  of  the  Courts  in 
this  County  from  1811  to  1819,  when  he  took  orders 
in  the  Ep.  Church  and  removed  to  the  upper  section  of 
South  Carolina,  and  was  instrumental  in  the  formation 
of  two  Parishes,  Greenville  and  Pendleton.  During  the 
first  eighteen  months  of  alternate  service  there,  he  tra- 
velled more  than  7O0O  utiles  on  horseback.  Some  of 
the  most  distinguished  men  of  South  Carolina  were  his 
parishioners,  and  his  services  were  held  in  high  estima- 
tion. He  returned  to  Deerfield  in  1832,  and  has  sine© 
officiated  in  a  parish  in  Montague.  Not  having  taken 
letters  dismissory  from  the  Bishop  of  South  Carolina, 
he  is  still  canonically  attached  to  that  Diocese.  Among 
his  published  works  are  several  Law  and  School  Books; 
Geographical  and  other  works  :  a  translation  of  the  New 
Testament.  In  regard  to  the  latter,  it  has  been  deemed, 
by  some  at  least,  that  he  has  been  traduced,  and  that 
many  assertions  made  by  critics,  respecting  it,  are  as- 
sumed and  unfounded. 

Elihu  Lyman,  son  of  Maj.  Elihu  Lyman.  Grad.  D, 
Coll.  1803.  Studied  with  Judge  New'comb.  Admitted 
1806.  Sheriff  of  the  County  from  1811  to  1S19.  Prac- 
tised Law  at  Greenwich.    Senator  from  Hampshire  Co. 

Jos.  S.  Lyman,  son  of  Maj.  E.  L.  Grad.  D.  Coll, 
1805.  Studied  and  practised  Law  at  Cooperstown,  N.Y. 
Member  of  Congress. 

Rejoice  Newton,  son  of  Capt.  Isaac  Newton.  Grad. 
D.  Coll.  1807.  Studied  with  Judge  Newcomb,  and 
with  E.  H.  Mills.  Admitted  in  1810.  Commenced 
practice  in  Worcester  with  F.  Blake.     County  Attorne/ 


GREF.NFIELD.  H7 

for  several  years,  and  Represcntalivo  in  1829 — 30,  31 
Senator  in  1834. 

George  Grenncll,  Jr.  son  of  George  Grennell.  Gracl. 
D.  Coll.  1808.  Stuciiecl  with  Judge  Nowcomb.  Ad- 
milted  in  1811.  Senator  in  1824.  County  A  ttorney. 
Elected  meinb(M'  of  Congress  in  1827.  Declined  re- 
election in  1838. 

Franklin  Ripley,  son  of  Jeroni  Ripley.  Grad.  D. 
Coll.  1^09.  Studied  Law  at  CoopcrstowDs  N.  Y.  and 
ot  Northfield  with  John  Barrett.  Admitted  1812.  Prac- 
tised Ijiw  at  Northfield.  Cashier  of  the  Greenfield  Bank 
since  its  establishment. 

David  Willard,  son  of  Beriah  Willard.  B.  1790. 
Grad.  D.  Coll.  1809.  Studied  with  Judge  Newcomb. 
Adm.  1812.* 

Daniel  Wells,  son  of  Col.  D.  Wells.  Grad.  D.  Coll. 
1810.  Studied  with  Elijah  Alvord.  Adm.  1813.  Sena- 
tor. District  Attorney  for  the  four  Western  Counties  of 
Massachusetts. 

Horatio  Gates  Newcomb,  son  of  Ilezekiah  New- 
comb, -of  Bernardston.  Studied  Law  with  John  Barrett, 
Northfield— with  Judge  Newcomb,  and  in  Connecticut. 
Adm.  1813.  Practised  Law,  at  Winchendon  and  at 
Northfield  and  in  this  town  since  1827.  Received  hon. 
degree  of  A.  M.  Williams  Coll. 

Justice  Willard,  son  of  Reuei  Willard.  Grad.  D.  Coll. 

*  Horace,  a  Roman  writer,  in  his  Art  of  Poetry,  sup- 
poses the  case  of  a  painter  forming  a  design  of  uniting 
a  horse's  neck  to  a  human  head  and  spreading  a  variety 
of  plumage  over  limbs  of  different  animiils  taken  from 
every  part  of  nature,  so  that  what  was  a  beautiful  woman 
in  the  upper  parts  should  terminate  in  an  ugly  fish  below. 
The  union  here  proposed  would  be  as  natural,  as  to  ex- 
pect a  man  to  succeed  in  a  profession  every  way  uncon- 
genial to  his  feelings,  especially  of  one  of  unconquerable 
diffidence  and  inclined  to  despondency  and  depression  of 
mind.  Parents  should  not  choose  professions  for  their 
children  :  they  should  choose  for  themselves. 


168  HISTORY   OF 

1811.  Studied  with  E.  Alvord  and  Judge  Newcomb. 
ASm.  1814.  Settled  at  Springfield.  Senator.  Register 
of  Probate. 

Fiavel  Griswold,  son  of  Theophilus  Griswold.  Grad. 
Yale  Coll.  1821.  Some  time  Minister  at  Souih  Hadlev 
Falls. 

Samuel  Wells,  son  of  Col.  Samuel  We]U.  Grad.  D. 
Coll.  1813.  Studied  with  Judge  Leavitt.  Adm.  1816. 
Removed  to  Northampton.  Clerk  of  the  Courts  in 
Hampshire  County. 

Joseph  P.  Allen,  son  of  Samuel  C.  Allen,  New  Sa- 
lem. Grad.  D.  Coll.  1S13.  Adm.  1816.  Practised 
10  Bernardslon,  here,  and  at  Charlemont. 

David  Brii>ham,  Shrewsbury.  Grad.  Plarv.  Cotl. 
Removed  to  Fitchburg. 

Charles  Baker,  Conway.    Studied  with  Daniel  Wells, 

Jonathan  Ashley  Saxlon,  son  of  Rufus  Saxton,  Deer- 
field.     Grad.  Harv.  Coll. 

Henry  Chapman,  son  of  Thomas  Chapman.  Studied 
with  Judge  Newcomb.  Adm.  1826.  Hon.  degree  of 
A.  M.  Williams  Coll.     Several  years  Representative. 

Allen  Clay  Morgan,  son  of  Alexander  Morgan.  Wash- 
ington Coll.  Minister  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  Con- 
necticut. 

Francis  Dana  Newcomb,  son  of  Judge  Newcomb. 
Grad.  West  Point  Academy.  Lieutenant  U.  S.  A. 
Baton  Rouge. 

George  Ripley,  son  of  Jerom  Ripley.  Grad.  Harv. 
1823.  Tutor  1824.  He  received  in  two  instances  the 
second  Bowdoin  prize.  Studied  at  the  Divinity  School, 
Cambridge.  Minister  of  the  Purchase  street  Church, 
Boston. 

Almon  Brainard,  Randolph,  Vermont.  Grad.  Hamil- 
ton Coll.  New  York.     Adniitted  1829. 

James  Church  Alvord,  son  of  Elijah  Alvord.  Grad. 
D.  Coll.  1827.  Studied  with  Danif^l  Wells,  and  at 
Law  School  New  Haven,  Adm.  1830.  Senator  in 
1837—8. 


GREENFIELD.  169 

Joseph  Warren  Newconnb,  son  of  Richnrd  E.  New- 
comb.  Gnu).  Williams  Coll.  1825.  Studied  with  bia 
father,  and  Newlon  &  Lincoln,  Worcester.  Practised 
at  Templetoo,  Salisbury  and  Worcester. 

Charles  C.  Corss,  son  of  Asher  Corss.  Grad.  Amh. 
Coll.  183—.  Studied  at  Divinity  School,  Princeton, 
N.  J.     Now  of  Athens,  N.  Y. 

George  Thomas  Davis,  son  of  Wendell  Davis,  Sand- 
wich, Barnstable  Co.  Grad.  Harv.  Coll.  1829.  Studied 
with  Wells  &  Alvord,  and  at  Law  School,  Cambridge, 
Adm.  1832. 

David  Aiken,  Bedford,  N.  H.  Grad.  Dart.  Coll. 
1830.      Studied  with  Wells  &  Alvord.     Adm.  1833. 

Charles  Ripley,  son  of  T.  W.  Ripley.  Grad.  D.  C. 
1835,     liouisville,  Kentucky. 

Daniel  Wells  Alvord,  son  of  E.  Alvord.  Union  Coll. 
N.  Y.  1838. 

Wendell  Thornton  Davis,  son  of  the  late  Hon.  W. 
Davis.     Harv.  Coll.  1838. 

George  Ashmun,  son  ofEliP.  Ashmun,  Northampton. 
Harv.  Coll.  1823.  Studied  with  Dmiel  Wells.  Adm. 
1826.     Springfield.     Senator  in  1837—8. 

Physic'ans. — Zechariah  Converse,  Killingly,  Conn, 
died  suddenly  in  1790,  of  apoplexy.  Dr.  Newton  said 
of  him — '*  A  man  who  had  been  capable  of  doing  good, 
and  peculiar  for  his  contentment  with  small  things — and 
refraining  from  resentful,  reviling  language  and  conduct 
towards  mankind."— Dr.  Caldwell.  Dr.  White.  Ed- 
ward Billing,  Grad.  Harv.  Coll.  1775.     Joshua  Rugg. 

John  Stone,  son  of  Capt  John  Stone,  of  Rutland. 
Born  1763.  Studied  vi^ith  Dr.  J.  Frink.  Came  here 
in  1787,  and  continued  in  practice  here,  except  a  short 
time  in  New  York,  till  1819,  when  he  removed  to  Pro- 
vidence, and  soon  after  to  Sprinj^field,  where,  as  here, 
his  practice  was  extensive.  Died  Sept.  1838,  set.  75. 
His  remains  were  entombed  here.  Distinguished  for 
*16 


170  HISTORY   OP 

his  personal  accomplishments  as  a  man,  and  his  ability 
and  usefulness  as  a  physician. 

Alpheus  Fletcher  Stone,  son  of  Capt.  John  Stone. 
Studied  with  Dr.  John  Stone,  and  commenced  business 
here  in  1805.    Hon.  degree  of  M,  D.  Willinms  College. 

Selh  Washburn,  native  of  Leicester.  Studied  with 
Dr.  Flint,  Northampton.  Died  January  1826,  aged  34 — 
much  respected  as  a  man,  and  for  his  skill  as  a  physi- 
cian. 

Amariah  Brigham,  a  native  of  Berkshire  County. 
Commenced  practice  here  in  1821.  Removed  to  Hart- 
ford 1831.     Author  of  several  medical  works. 

Helaz  Alvord.  South  Hadiey  and  Montague.  Re- 
moved here  in  1827.     Died  in  1829,  aged  38. 

Stephen  Bates,  son  of  Dr.  Bates,  Charlemont.  Grad. 
Williams  Coll,  1826.  Studied  with  Hunt  and  Barrett, 
Northampton,  and  at  Jefferson  College,  Philadelphia. 
M.  D.  at  the  same.    Commenced  practice  here  in  1831, 

James  Deane,  son  of  C.  Deane,  Colerain.  Studied 
with  A.  W.  Ives,  New  York  city.  Med.  Grad.  Uni- 
versity of  the  Slate  of  New  York,  1831.  Received  the 
hon.  degree  of  A.  M.  from  Amherst  Coll.  1838.  Com- 
menced practice  here  1831. 

Francis  Dana,  Cambridge.  Grad.  Harv.  Coll.  Com- 
menced practice  here  in  1S31.  Removed  to  Boston 
1834. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

f^otice  of  the  Early  Traders — JVeivspapers — Schools — 
Stages— Banks — Factories — Scenery — Witches* — 
Turner'' s  Falls — Society,  6rc. 

Samuel  Bliss,  of  Boston,  built  the  store  on  the  corner* 
now  occupied  by  E.  W.  Kingsley  and  others.  Not 
favoring  the  Revolution,  he  joined  the  British,  and  was 
made  a  Captain.    He  was  included  among  the  outlawed 


GREENFIELD.  171 

in  17T8.  Their  first  return  was  piinishnblo  hy  trans- 
portation to  tile  British  dominions  :  the  second  with 
death.  George  Grcnneli,  Suybrool;,  C'onncclicut,  was 
his  successor  in  business. 

Reiiel  and  Boriah  Willnrd,  Shrewsh'iry,  came  about 
the  year  1~70.  Samuel  Field,  DcerHeid.  William 
Moore,  Rutland. 

Jerorn  Kipley,  Hingham.  Removed  to  this  town 
from  Boston  in  1789.  Mrs.  Ripley  is  a  native  of  Bos- 
ton, and  descendant  of  Benjamin  Franklin.  Mr.  R. 
built  the  house  and  store  he  naw  occupies  in  1790,  For 
half  a  century  or  more  has  this  venerable  man  stood  be- 
hind the  counter  :  more  years,  probably,  than  any  other 
individual  in  New  England,  whose  integrity,  like  the 
virtue  of  Csesar's  wife,  was  never  even  suspected  :  of 
whose  virtue  and  uprightness  a  long  course  of  years 
leaves  no  question  ;  who  never  took  from  any  man  the 
ten  thousandth  part  of  a  fraction  unjustly  ;  a  living  and 
eminent  example  of  the  beneficial  effects  of  steady  in- 
dustry and  perseverance  in  one  calling,  and  of  minding 
one's  own  business  and  letting  others  alone.  A  chano-o 
has  passed  over  all  who  have  stood  around  him.  More 
than  eighty  persons  have  been  concerned  in  trade  in 
this  town,  from  the  time  he  began.  He  has  been  a  Jus- 
tice of  the  Peace  near  fifty  years,  a  Representative,  and 
one  of  the  Justices  of  the  Court  of  Sessions.  If  all  these 
facts  make  il  invidious  to  speak  of  the  living,  then  be  it 
so. 

A  few  others  of  the  early  traders,  were,  Samuel  Field, 
E.  Upham,  Caleb  Alvord,  and  Abner  Smead.  Joseph 
Taylor  and  John  E.  Hall,  Middletown,  C.  Samuel 
Pierce,  do.  Daniel  Forbes,  William  Forbes,  Brookfield. 
Hart  Leavitt,  Calvin  Munn,  Thomas  Dickman,  Newton 
&  Green,  O. 'Wilkinson.  Norton  &  Bird,  Simsbuiy,  C. 
John  Russell,  Abner  Wells.  David  Ripley,  Hingham, 
died  1S36,  universally  respected.  Drugs  and  Medicines, 
Edward  Billings.     Marble— Dix,  Brinley,  C.  Clapp. 


I7S  HISTORY  OP 

Manufactories.— The  Satinelt  Factory  of  N.  E. 
Russell  &  Co.  at  Fall  river,  employs  a  large  capital  and 
numerous  hands.  The  building  first  used  was  burnt,  in 
Nov.  1829.  Loss  estimated  at  about  $30,000.  A  spa- 
cious stone  building  now  supplies  its  place,  A  largo 
amount  of  prime  quality  cloths  are  annually  turned  off. 

The  Cutlery  Works  of  J.  Russell,  Jun.  &  Co. 
first  established  in  this  town,  were  burnt  down  in  1836, 
and  since  rebuilt,  on  Green  river,  a  few  rods  beyond  the 
south  line  of  the  town,  within  the  bounds  of  Deerfield, 
are  much  enlarged,  and  calculated  for  an  extensive  busi- 
ness. Superior  cutlery  of  various  kinds,  is  manufac- 
tured. 

Note.  Fires.  Besides  the  fires  referred  to,  there 
have  been  the  house  of  Col.  Gilbert,  T.  Chapman,  shop 
of  W.  Wilson,  R.  E.  Field— and  in  1826,  8  buildings- 
house  of  A.  Clark,  and  Mrs.  Munn  ;  shops  of  Clay  & 
Field,  D.  Long,  A.  Ames,  &c. 

Newspapers. — The  first  newspaper  printed  in  this 
part  of  the  country  was  established  here  by  Thomas 
Dickman,  a  native  of  Boston,  in  February  1793,  who 
served  his  time  with  Benjamin  Edes  &  Son.  It  was 
called  the  Impartial  Intelligencer.  He  had  at  first  800 
subscribers,  but  the  number  soon  increased  to  1600. 
The  name  was  soon  after  changed  to  that  of  Greenfield 
Gazette.  It  was  afterwards  for  a  tioje  printed  by  Fran- 
cis Barker,  and  from  1802  to  1810  by  John  Denio. 
From  that  period  under  the  title  of  the  Traveller,  Herald 
and  Advertiser,  &c.  by  Col.  Ansel  Phelps,  a  native  of 
Northampton.  The  Gazette  printed  by  J.  Denio  and 
Aianson  Clark  (Northampton)  in  1825,  united  with  the 
Herald  in  1827.  Franklin  Federalist,  by  Russell  Wells, 
1816,  (discontinued.)  Franklin  Post  and  Christian 
Freeman,  1825,  removed  to  Northampton  and  discon- 
tinued. Freedom's  Sentinel,  by  Alonzo  Rawson,  (dis.) 
Franklin  Freeman,  by  J.  P.  Fogg,  1831.  Franklin 
Mercury,  by  G.  T.  Davis  ;  united  with  the  Gazette  1837. 


GREENFIELD.  17^ 

Woikingmnn's  Advocate,  1836,  hy  J.  M.  Cnmpbell, 
(dis.)  Greenfield  Courier,  by  Kiieeland  &  Eastman- 
1838. 

When  Mr.  Dickninn'^^  pnpcr  was  first  published, 
newspapers  were  procured  for  [litn  by  a  company  who 
sent  to  Sprinjifield  every  week.  A  Post  OtTice  was 
soon  after  established,  and  he  was  appointed  Postmaster, 
which  office  he  held  till  l'-04,  when  the  present  Post- 
master, Capt.  A.  Arnes,  was  appointed. 

Mails  and  Stages. — A  notice  was  published  in  1792 
by  T.  Pickerin;:,s  Postmas-!er  General,  t'^r  contracts  lor 
carrying  a  mail  from  Sprinijfield  to  Brattleboro,  once  a 
week  :  to  leave  Springfield  Mon.  1  o'clk.  A.M.  arr.  at 
B.  6  P.  M.  next  day  :  leave  B.  next  Sat.  noon.  arr.  at  S. 
9  A.  M.  next  Mon.  From  Brattleboro  to  Hanover  once 
a  week.  For  every  hour's  delay  one  dollar  fine.  In 
1796  a  stage  was  run  from  Hartford  to  Brattleboro 
three  times  a  week,  during  five  months  of  the  year — 
remainder  twice,  by  R.  Sikes,  and  others. 

About  the  year  1806,  a  stage  comsncnced  running 
every  otlier  day 'from  Hartford  to  Brattleboro,  as  now, 
to  which  is  recently  added  a  daily  line  up  and  down, 
both  by  Chapin  Sl  Deming,  J.  Spencer  and  ollicrs. 

The  mail  hither  Irom  Boston,  for  a  lew  years  previous 
to  1803,  was  brought  once  a  week  on  horseback.  In 
1810  in  a  covered  carriage,  by  John  Phelps,  and  soon 
after  to  Albany.  About  the  year  1817,  every  other  day 
to  Boston  and  Albany,  and  for  several  years  past,  by 
different  routes,  every  day  to  both,  and  to  Worcester 
Rail  Road. 

Schools. — The  High  School  for  the  instruction  of 
foung  Ladies  was  established  in  1828,  since  which  it 
has  flourished  under  the  care  of  the  Pvev.  Henrv  Jones^ 
of  Hartford,  C.  and  Graduate  of  Yale  College  in  1820. 
The  course  (jf  study,  comprising  all  branches  of  a  female 
education,  is  systematic  and  apparently  as  complete  aa 


174  HISTORY    OP 

could  be  devised  or  desired,  with  an  instructor  to  each 
department.  So  powerful  is  the  influence  of  females 
upon  society,  and  so  almost  entirely  dependant  is  the 
happiness  of  the  other  sex,  upon  their  good  or  ill  education; 
so  enduring  is  that  of  the  mother  upon  those  entrusted  to 
her  care,  that  the  importance  of  that  education,  which 
should  becr'm  at  home,  and  afterwards  continue  to  be  of 
a  domestic  character,  that  it  cannot  be  n;easured  or 
weighed  by  any  measure  or  s'*ale  hitherto  exis'ing  even 
in  fancy.  Ptefined  manners  will  in  general  be  duly  esti- 
mated :  a  certain  undefioable  delicacy  of  mind  and 
thought,  arising  from  a  proper  education,  can  alone  give 
that  true  dignity  and  grace,  which  place  woman  where 
she  should  be,  but  a  little  lower  than  the  angels  ;  with 
which  mere  personal  beauty  is  no  more  to  be  compared, 
than  the  meanest  insect  which  sports  in  the  sunbeam  to 
the  glorious  luminary  itself. 

The  situation  of  the  buildings  is  elevated  and  beauti- 
ful, and  probably  surpassed  by  no  other  for  convenience. 
The  eye  of  trie  traveller,  especially  coming  from  the 
south,  rests  with  pleasure  upon  these  buildings,  and  from 
the  School  itself  a  prospect  is  spread  out  before  and  un- 
der the  eye,  of  sloping  hills  and  mountains,  meadow  and 
vale  and  stream,  overlooking  the  windings  of  Green 
river,  as  picturesque  and  pleasing  as  it  often  rests  upon 
or  can  desire. 

An  Institution  for  the  education  of  females  in  all 
the  branches  usually  tauijht  in  High  Schools,  has  recently 
been  opened  by  the  Misses  Stone,  daughters  of  Dr. 
A.  F.  Stone,  (who  are  experienced  and  well  qualified 
instructors,) — in  a  pleasant  and  commodious  situation 
and  with  a  suitable  building.  This  school  promises 
much  useftdness. 

No.  of  Public  Schools,  7  ;  No.  of  Scholars  of  all  ages 
in  all  the  Schools,  in  Winter,  317;  in  Summer,  278; 
average  attendance  in  the  Schools  in  Winter,  253;  in 
Summer,  21S  ;  No.  of  persons  between  the  ages  of  4 
and  16  years  of  age  in  the  town,  494  ;  aggregate  length 


GREENFIELD.  175 

of  ihe  Schools,  Gl  months,  in  Winter,  26,  in  Summer,  35; 
No.  of  Tciichers  in  Summer,  Males,  0,  Females,  7  ; 
No.  of  Teachers  in  Wn)ter,  Males,  4,  Females,  4  ;  ave- 
rage wages  paid  per  month  includit)g  board,  to  Males, 
$23  40,  to  Females,  $12  88  ;  amount  of  money  raised 
by  Taxes  lor  the  support  ol  Sihools,  $800  CO  ;  amount 
raised  by  Taxes  ior  Teachers'  wages,  including  board, 
if  paid  from  the  public  money,  $750  00  ;  amount  raised 
voluntarily  to  prolong  eon)mon  schools,  including  fuel 
and  board,  if  contributed,  $300  00;  No.  of  Academies 
or  Private  Schools,  2;  aggregate  of  months  kept,  24; 
aggregate  of  Scholars,  60  ;  aggregate  paid  for  tuition, 
$1,600  00. 


GREENFIELD  BANK.     Incorporated  1822. 

Capital,  ^150,000. 

William  Pomroy,  President. 

Franklin  Ripley,  Cashier. 


SAVINGS  INSTITUTION.     Incor.  18S4 

E.  Alvord,  Pres.     F.  Ripley,  Treas. 

T.  O.  Sparhawk,  Sec. 

Amount  deposited  to  1st  January,  1838,  ^6,120  57. 

No.  of  Depositors  70. 


MUTUAL  INSURANCE  CO.     Incorporated  1829. 

H.  G.  Newcomb,  Pres.     A.  Brainard,  Sec. 
No.  of  Policies  issued,  1000.     Amount  Insured,  4  to 

$500,000. 


Scenery. — The  Falls,  &c. — Our  vicinity  makei 
no  claim  to  scenery  of  a  very  striking  character,  except- 
ing the  views  to  be  had  at  the  Falls,  the  Glen,  and  one 
or  two  others,  which  may  be  called  so.  One  thing  is 
very  certain,  that  these  falls,  and  the  scenery  about  them, 
•re  far  less  known,  noticed  and  spoken  of,  in  story  and 


176  HISTORY   OF 

in  song,  than  their  wild  and  romantic  character  seems 
to  deserve,  and  are  less  visited  than  others  ot  a  sir/.ilar 
description.  To  most  in  this  vicinity  they  have  been 
famihar  from  infancy,  and  therefore  htlle  regarded. 
There  are  no  Lakes  to  give  beauty  to  this  section  of 
country,  yet  from  a  short  distance  above  the  lalls,  thenco 
ascending  for  two  or  three  miles,  are  many  places  where 
the  river,  spreading  wide  out  before  you,  the  overhang- 
ing, dark  woods,  the  wild  and  imposing  solitude,  occa- 
sionally only  broken  by  the  oars  of  the  boat  and  rafts- 
men, there  bemg  no  dwellings  near,  may  give  it  some 
similitude  of  a  lake  among  the  woods,  especially  to  one 
a  little  tinctured  with  the  romantic.  This  is  a  favorite 
resort  of  the  wild  duck,  heron,  loon,  bittern,  crane,  eagle, 
who  are  often  seen  on  its  banks  and  waters. — The  roar 
of  the  water,  rolling  and  tumbling  over  the  great  dam 
at  misty  morn  and  dewy  eve,  is  oltcn  heard  at  a  consi- 
derable distance.  Tnis  was  formerly  a  place  of  great 
resort  during  the  fishing  season,  and  especidly  on  Elec- 
tion day,  when  a  full  assortment  with  a  g-eat  variety  of 
people  of  both  sexes  and  all  ages  and  C('lors  might  be 
found  there  ;  b'ack,  while,  yellow  and  grey  ;  the  music 
of  the  viol  and  dancing;  ganjbling  in  all  its  forms;  in 
6ne,  dissipation  of  every  sort.  Shad  and  Salmon  were 
taken  in  abundance,  and  t-he  time  was  when  shad  were 
taken  1000  at  a  haul  and  sold  for  a  penny  apiece. 

These  Falls  have  taken  the  name  ot  Turner,  from 
a  battle  fought  there  in  1676,  by  Capt.  Turner,  and  a 
party  of  Indians,  are  situated  between  this  town,  Gil), 
and  Montague,  and  are  the  most  interestmg  waterfalia 
in  New  England.  The  dam  erected  here  for  the 
canal,  originally  erected  in  part  by  capitalists  from  Hol- 
land, is  about  1000  feel  long,  resting  near  the  centre 
upon  two  small  islands.  Over  the  dam  the  water  leaps 
more  than  thirty  leet  perpendicidar,  and  for  a  mile  con- 
tinues descending  rapidly,  and  foaming  along  its  course* 
An  hundred  rods  below,  the  stream  strikes  direcll/ 
against  a  lofty   Greenstone   ridge,   (rocky   mountain,) 


GREENFIELD.  1T7 

when   it  changes  its  course   towards  the   south,   neor 
a  quarter  of  a  circle. 

From  the  elevated  ground  on  the  Gill  shore,  the  cata- 
ract may  be  seen  to  good  advantage  :  the  islands  below 
with  their  trees  and  shrubs  :  the  lofty  wood  covered 
ridge  to  the  right  :  the  dam  and  rocks  and  tumbling 
waters  below:  canal  opposite:  the  placid  expanse  of 
water  above  :  with  its  scenery  and  forest  of  pines  be- 
yond ;  near  you,  a  litlle  north,  the  stone  Factory  of 
N.  E.  Russeil  &  Co.  and  its  village,  on  Fall  river, 
form  altogether,  a  picluresque  and  highly  romantic 
prospect,  worth  an  hundred  mdes  ride  to  look  upon.  In 
high  waler,  the  view  approaches  the  grand  and  sublime. 
Rafts,  and  boats  heavily  loaded,  pass  the  canal  in  con- 
siderable numbers,  from  far  up  and  down  the  river, 
leaving  annually  from  9000  to  $14,000  in  tolls. 

Something  more  than  a  mile  below  tho  fiills  is  an 
island  coimected  with  the  Eastern  shore  by  a  low  natural 
dam  of  rock  about  200  feet  long.  This"  and  the  sur- 
rounding country,  taking  in  nearly  the  whole  town  of 
Montague,  with  its  five  miles  extent  of  dark  ever  green 
plains  of  pine,  with  a  beautiful  prospect  of  the  town  of 
Greenfield,  and  the  neighboring  hills,  to  the  west,  though 
not  extensive,  rarely  equalled,  may  be  had  from  the 
rocky  ridge  or  mountain  alluded  to,  which  borders  the 
village  on  the  East,  presenting  a  rude  and  ruogcd,  yet 
bold  and  romantic  aspect,  of  trees  and  rock.  Veins  of 
copper  ai'e  found  on  this  ridge,  and  the  Geologist  here 
finds  a  rich  subject. 

One  old  gentleman,  Mr.  B.  has  always  maintained 
a  mysterious  air  and  conversation  on  the  subject  of  the 
mines  and  minerals  of  this  mountain  and  its  vicinity, 
and  Kidd's  money,  others  have  searched  with  mineral 
rods  and  witch  hazpl. 

There  were  formerly  a  number  of  sawmills   on  Fall 

river,   and    NoMh  East,   as  the  factory  village  was  once 

called,    was  much   resorted  to   for  Lumber.     A   great 

number  of  logs  were  left  by  the  spring  floods,  before 

16 


178  HISTORY    OF 

they  were  sent  by  the  canal,  and  previous  to  the  lumber- 
men  passing  down  to  set  thetn  adrift,  were  easily  taken 
possession  of,  and  converted  into  boards  and  shingles, 
which  knew  not  the  right  owners  nor  whence  they  came. 
It  is  said  that  a  considerable  business^  was  carried  on  in 
this  way. 

Scarce  half  a  century  ago,  there  were  many  in  that 
vicinity,  who  believed  in  witches.  One  old  Lady  resi- 
ding there,  Mrs.  Thatcher,  was  certainly  supposed  to  be 
one,  and  she  told  fortunes  occasionally.  One  neighbor 
had  a  calf  bewitched  :  a  female  named  Dewey,  fre- 
quently screamed  out  violently  in  the  night,  and  when 
her  friends  went  to  see  what  ailed  her  she  was  found  in 
profuse  perspiration  and  wet  as  if  just  taken  from  the 
river  :  this  continued — she  was  taken  to  be  bewitched, 
and  removed  to  Montague  where  she  died. 

There  was  formerly  a  Grist  mill  at  this  place,  and  a 
fulling  mill  occupied  by  Ezekiel  Bascom,*  who  lived  in 
the  village  ;  and  was  a  man  of  strong  mind  and  much 
thought  of.  One  night  when  he  slept  at  the  Falls,  a 
horse  shoe  came  into  his  room  and  performed  various 
evolutions,  and  though  a  resolute  and  determined  man, 
he  so  far  yielded  to  superstitious  feeling  as  never  to  lodge 
there  again.  A  horse  shoe  was  nailed  up  at  the  mill  to 
keep  off  witches.  It  was  pretended  that  the  mill  wheels 
sometimes  stopped  and  could  not  be  induced  to  go  :  Mr. 
B-nton's  cattle  and  cart  stopped  in  the  road  without  his 
being  able  to  make  them  go  :  he  said  he  heard  female 
voices  under  the  cart :  a  fox  soon  came  out  from  under 
it  :  the  cattle  went  on  again  and  all  was  well.  In 
fine,  North  East  was  a  sort  of  enchanted  ground  ;  the 
residence  of  witches  and  hobgoblins,  and  furnished  forth 
many  stories  for  the  credulous. 

*  The  family  of  Bascom  was  from  Northampton,  and 
always  held  a  very  respectable  standing.  Moses  Bascom, 
Esq.  Grandfather  of  Mr.  Dorus  Bascom,  bought  lands 
now  belonging  to  the  family  in  1761,  at  40  cts.  the  acre. 
Of  400  acres,  the  highest  he  paid  was  4s. 


GREENFIELD.  179 

Society. — From  the  number  of  Religious  societies 
existing  in  a  town  so  small,  a  stranger  might  suppose 
the  people  to  be  divided  in  feelings  and  sympathies  and 
prone  to  contention.  Social  intercourse  is  not  atTected 
by  these  divisions,  although  in  some  small  degree  bound- 
ed by  palish  lines.  If  narrowness  and  bigotry  exist, 
they  are  confined  to  the  narrow  minded.  A  good  state 
of  feeling  seems  to  prevail  universally.  The  town  is 
composed  of  as  virtuous  and  intelligent  a  population  as 
can  be  found  anywhere,  and  no  people  are  more  ready 
to  contribute  liberally  to  every  laudable  public  or  chari- 
table object.  As  for  those  who  esteem  themselves  per- 
fect, and  despise  others,  "  In  self  adoring  pride  securely 
mailed,"  we  wish  them  more  humility,  and  hope  to  give 
a  better  account  of  them  in  our  fiftieth  edition. 


And  now,  Reader,  a  word  at  parting.  It  will  soon, 
very^soon  be  of  little  moment  to  you  and  to  me  and 
to  all  who  enjoy  the  privilege  of  looking  upon  this  beau- 
tiful earth  and  the  garniture  thereof;  upon  the  splendid 
luminaries  above  and  all  the  planets  and  stars  revolving 
in  their  spheres  :  upon  the  faces  of  men,  and  to  the 
voices  of  loved  ones — oft 

'  Listening,  as  the  mariner  suspends  the  outbound  oar, 
To  taste  the  farewell  gale  that  blows  from  off  his  native 
shore — ' 

whether  we  were  rich  or  poor,  exalted  or  lowly,  honored 
or  neglected  ;  the  stream  of  time  which  ebbs  not,  is  fast 
wafting  us  into  the  interminable  ocean  of  Eternity,  and 

Note.  Thefamiliesby  the  name  of  Russell,  are  supposed 
to  be  the  descendants  of  Rev.  John  Russell,  who  removed 
from  Weathersfield,  Connecticut,  in  1642,  to  Hadley, 
and  was  installed  there,  and  who  concealed  GotFe  and 
Whalley,  two  of  the  Judges  of  King  Charles  I.  of  Eng- 
land. 


180  HISTORY    OF 

while  we  are  dreaming  of  honors  or  spending  our  time 
in  trifles,  we  are  fast  approaching  that  shoreless  ocean  ; 
a  few  paces  more  and  we  are  embarked  upon  its  waters — 
see  to  it  that  the  Pilot,  chart,  and  compass  are  on  board, 
and  be  able  to  say,  "  I  have  no  cause  to  fear,  my 
father's  at  the  helm  "     Reader,  Farewell. 


INADVERTENT  OMISSIONS. 

The  following  should  have  been  placed  in  the  list  of 
Lawyers  and  Graduates  who  have  resided  here. 

Elisha  Hunt  Allen,  son  of  Hon.  S.  C.  Allen,  Grad. 
Williams  Coll.    Studied  Law  with  his  father.    Admitted 

.     Practised  here.     Removed  to  Bangor,  Maine. 

Representative.     Speaker  of  H.  of  R.  of  Maine. 

Frederick  H.  Allen,  son  of  Hon.  S.  C.  Alien.  Grad. 
Burlington  Coll.    Vermont.     Studied   with   his   father, 

Adm. .     Practised  at  New  Salem.     Removed  to 

Bangor,  Maine. 


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